Wall Street Journal & USA Today Bestselling Author

Winter Travers

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Also by Winter Travers

Devil’s Knights Series

Loving Lo

Finding Cyn

Gravel’s Road

Battling Troy

Gambler’s Longshot

Keeping Meg

Fighting Demon

Unraveling Fayth

Skid Row Kings Series

DownShift

PowerShift

BangShift

Fallen Lords MC Series

Nickel

Pipe

Maniac

Wrecker

Boink

Clash
Freak

Slayer

Brinks

Kings of Vengeance MC

Drop a Gear and Disappear

Lean Into It

Knees in the Breeze

Powerhouse MA Series

Dropkick My Heart

Love on the Mat

Black Belt in Love

Black Belt Knockout

Nitro Crew Series

Burndown

Holeshot

Redlight

Shutdown

Royal Bastards MC: Sacramento, CA

Playboy

Sweet Love Novellas

Sweet Burn

Five Alarm Donuts

Stand Alone Novellas

Kissing the Bad Boy

Daddin’ Ain’t Easy

Silas: A Scrooged Christmas

Wanting More

Mama Didn’t Raise No Fool

Chapter 27

Coming Soon

About the Author

Meet the Fallen Lords MC

Chapter One

Reva

“Barbara! Pssst! Get over here.”
Barbara raised her head to look at me but

didn’t budge.

“Get over here right now,” I demanded. My

tone was firm, and I meant business.

Barbara tipped her head to the side.
“Get your ass over here, Barbara. I am not

playing with you anymore.” I didn't know what the
hell had compelled her to go traipsing over there,
but she needed to get her ass back over to me.

She stared at me for a second longer and then

turned away.

“Hey!”
Oh, shit. I hung my head. This is what I was

trying to avoid. Slinking around the backyard of the
local motorcycle club was something I normally
didn’t do. “This is all your fault, Barbara,” I
grumbled.

“Who the hell are you talking to?”
I glanced over my shoulder. The low,

intoxicating voice was attached to a tall, tattooed
man with a black leather vest over a white t-shirt.
His long legs were encased in a pair of light denim
jeans with a hole in the right knee. Dark sunglasses
covered his eyes, and his lips were turned down in
a scowl. He was handsome. Too handsome.

“Uh, Barbara?” Apparently, I wasn’t too

sure of my answer. Maybe because this wasn't how
I pictured my day playing out.

I didn’t think it was possible, but he scowled

even more. “There’s two of you back here?”

I peeked back over my shoulder at Barbara,

who had moved further into the backyard. “Well,
yeah.”

“You know this is private property, right?” He

dropped his arms to his sides and moved toward
me.

“Yeah.” I had figured that out when I pushed

open the gate that had a large yellow sign with
black block letters that boasted NO TRESPASSING.

“So you wanna tell me why you’re back

here?” he grunted.

I hitched my thumb over my shoulder.

“Barbara.”

“Is she drunk or something? Can’t read?” The

guy stalked toward me.

I shrugged. “Uh, or something?” I turned back

to Barbara and moved further into the backyard.

“That’s a dog.”
I glanced back at a tall, dark, and tattooed

man. “Astute observation.”

Barbara lifted her head at the guy’s voice. She

panted heavily and bound across the yard toward
me. Finally.

She leapt into the air and landed squarely in

the guy’s arms. “Oof,” he grunted. “What the
hell?”

Maybe he wasn’t a dog person, but Barbara

didn’t seem to care about that. “She likes you,” I
said simply.

She licked his face wildly and panted.
“She thinks she’s a lap dog or something,” he

grumbled.

That was the damn truth. Barbara was a

standard size poodle who was spoiled rotten, and I
swore she thought she was human. “I’ll take her. I
was in the middle of dealing with Hopper when she
ran out.”

This guy obviously hadn’t been too happy

to find me in his backyard, so it was probably for
the best to grab Barbara and run.

“You really named her Barbara?” he asked.

He rubbed her head and actually gave her a half
smile. Her tongue lolled off to the side, and she
rested her head on his shoulder.

I scoffed and shook my head. “No.”
He quirked his eyebrow.
I sighed. “I own the groomers across the

street. She’s supposed to be getting a cut and
shampoo today.” I reached out and petted her head.
“She obviously had other plans when she got
dropped off.”

“Who the hell names their dog Barbara?” he

scoffed.

“Uh, well, they always request she gets a cut

that looks like Barbara Walters’ hair.” I cleared my
throat. “It’s really uncanny how much she looks
like her when I’m done with her.”

The guy busted out laughing.
Yeah, it was true. Barbara’s owners were a bit

on the kooky side and didn’t care how crazy it
seemed to not only call their dog Barbara, but to
also give her a haircut that mimicked her namesake.

“Now that is something I’d like to see.” He

shifted the dog in his arms, and Barbara sighed.

Yeah, girl. I’d be sighing too if I was lucky

enough to be cuddled up to this guy.

“So, you need help taking her?”
I blinked. “Uh, who?”
“The dog.”
Oh, right. Barbara. I pulled out a leash from

my back pocket. “Uh, I should be okay.” I reached
out and hooked the end of the leash on her collar.
“You can put her down.”

He bent over and set her paws on the ground.

Barbara leapt up and about knocked the guy over
trying to get back in his arms.

“I think you’ve got an admirer in Barbara.”
He pushed her down and petted her head.

“She’s a good girl, aren’t you, Barbara?” he cooed
to her.

I watched him fawn over the dog and smiled.

Who would have thought the suave looking biker
would be an animal whisperer? “Uh, well, we better
get back to the shop, Barbara.” I tugged on her
leash, but she didn’t budge.

Her tongue lolled out the side of her mouth,

and she stared lovingly up at the guy. Totally
smitten. Same, girl. Same. Three minutes with this
guy and I was jealous of the dog he was petting.

He crouched down in front of her and pressed

a kiss to her forehead. “Time for you to go get your
haircut, pretty girl.”

Ugh. Majorly swoon worthy.
Barbara whined and scooted closer to him. I

was never going to her away from him at this rate.

“Come on, Barb. You can have a couple of

cookies.”

She didn’t even glance at me. Normally, the

word cookies sent Barbara into a tizzy, and she

would do anything to get one.

Not today.
The guy stood and turned to me. He held out

his hand and smiled. “I’m Hero, and I think you
might be needing a little help here.”

I clumsily shook his hand. “Uh, I’m Reva.” I

held onto his warm palm and kept yanking it up and
down like it was a damn water pump. Up, down, up,
down. I tried to wrap my head around his name. If
his mother had named him that, it was one hell of a
moniker to live up to.

Hero laughed and set his other hand on top of

mine. “I think that’s good, Sunshine.”

I laughed nervously and extracted my hand

from his. “Uh, sorry about that.” Apparently,
touching the tanned, tattooed hottie turned me into
an idiot. Lovely.

He grabbed the leash from my other hand. “I

can walk her back over, if you want. I think that
might work better.”

Barbara stared up adoringly at Hero. “She

seems to have taken a liking to you.”

Hero shrugged and headed toward the gate he

had left open. I followed behind sheepishly.

A laugh escaped my lips at the hilarity of Hero

walking Barbara.

The biker and the poodle. Now if that wasn’t a

lame title to a romance book, I didn’t know what
was.

Hero opened the gate wider and held it for me.

“Something funny?” he asked as I walked past. My
shoulder brushed against his chest, and my heart
kicked up a beat.

“Nope, nothing at all.” I smirked. I would

keep that thought to myself. No way was I going to
tell Hero that he looked slightly ridiculous and also
sexy as hell with a poodle following his every step.

I led the way around the back of the

clubhouse and onto the gravel driveway.

“How long have you worked at the

groomers?” he asked.

I glanced over at him. “I’ve owned it for three

years.”

He nodded. “Own. That’s pretty cool.”
Yeah, it was. I had worked my butt off to get

to where I was today. Not saying I was a millionaire
or even close to that, but I was living a life I was
comfortable with. The lights stayed on, and I had
food on the table every night. “Living the dream,” I
mumbled.

We crossed the street to the strip mall. Three

years ago, the small five-store row of businesses
had been built, and I was the first one in line to sign
the lease for my shop. Mine was the first store
when you pulled in, and I also had the largest
space.

Three-foot high letters stretched across the

wall above the door of my space.

Hair of the Dog.
You see what I did there? I had to admit, the

first couple of months that I was open, I got some
weird phone calls thinking I was a liquor store, but
those had all died down now.

I held open the door and turned to let Hero in.
“You didn’t lock the door?”
I tipped my head to the side. “Uh, well, no.”
“You should have locked the door, Reva.

Unless you have someone else who works with
you?”

I shook my head. I was a one-woman shop.

“Just me.”

“You should have locked the door,” he

repeated.

“Yeah, well, I was a little more concerned

about getting Barbara, and the door is hard to lock
in a hurry. Everything is fine.” I reached out to grab
the leash from him.

He gripped the leash tightly. “What do you

mean it’s hard to lock in a hurry?”

I blew my hair out of my face. “It’s fussy. It

takes finesse that I don’t have when I’m screaming
after a poodle headed to hang out at the local
motorcycle club.” I grabbed the leash and yanked it
out of his hand. “Thanks again for your help. I
promise it won’t happen again.”

Barbara was going to be leashed no matter

what when she came here from now on. I didn’t

want to do that again.

“You should get the lock looked at if it’s

giving you problems.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve talked to Russ about

it.”

“Russ?”
Barbara cried and moved closer to Hero.

Lordy. She was completely under Hero’s spell.
“Russ is the guy who owns the strip mall.”

“Your landlord,” he clarified.
“Yup. That’s him.” I cleared my throat and

nodded to my shop. “I better get back to work.
These dogs aren’t going to bathe themselves.” As
much as I’d love to stare at Hero’s handsome face
all day, I had to do my job to make money to pay
my rent. “Thank you again for helping to rein in
Barbara.”

He leaned down and patted her on the head.

“I’ll see ya later, lil girl.”

My heart fluttered with his words even though

he wasn’t talking to me.

He straightened and smiled. “I’ll see ya

around, Reva.”

I nodded dumbly because I had no idea what

to say. I’d like that? When? Is that a promise?

His words were unclear, so I pulled Barbara

back into the shop and pushed the door closed
behind me. I attached Barbara’s leash to the
counter and sighed. “That was a very naughty girl,

Barb,” I whispered.

I petted her head, and she flopped down on

the floor. She whined pathetically and huffed,
staring out the glass door. I turned to see what she
was looking at.

Hero was slowly walking across the street with

his phone to his ear. Barbara whined and gave a
short bark.

“I hear ya, girl,” I muttered. Watching Hero

saunter away was a nice sight. A very nice sight.

He crossed the road and disappeared into the

clubhouse.

While I knew the clubhouse was across the

street the entire time I’ve been here, I had never
really paid much attention to it before now. I also
knew they ran the strip club on the edge of town,
and they had a repair shop connected to the
clubhouse. Dad was handy with cars, and he had
taught me to take care of mine. What I couldn’t
handle, he did short of body work and paint. I
never had a need to pay much attention to the
Devil’s Knights.

That was, until Barbara decided she wanted to

take a little field trip over there to meet the
handsome Hero.

“Jesus,” I whispered. Guys like Hero were the

things romance novels were made of. He was the
bad boy you craved would do bad things to you,
but ya know, in a nice way. A sexy way.

I fanned my face with my hand and sighed.

Guys like Hero were trouble. Too handsome for
their own good and with way too much confidence.

This was the first run-in I had with one of the

Devil’s Knights, and it was going to be the last. I
was more than happy with my little life I was
building, and I didn’t need a sexy man with a
motorcycle to mess it up.

Barbara whined and dropped her head to the

floor. She looked up at me with her big brown eyes.
She was letting the sexy biker mess with her
already.

I was not going down that path.
Nope. Not happening.

Chapter Two

Hero

“You wanna tell me where the hell you’ve

been?”

I sighed and plopped down in the chair at the

opposite end of the table from King. “I was doing
something. I’m here now.”

King leaned back in his chair at the head of

the table. “Try being on time for once, Hero.”

This was constant from King. Even if I was on

time, he would tell me I was late. Nothing I seemed
to do lately was ever good enough for him. I had
been a prospect for a year before becoming a
member of the club when I was nineteen. Now, at
twenty-eight and a member of the club for almost
ten years, it still felt like I was treated as a prospect
most of the time.

“I talked to you before you went to smoke a

cigarette. What the hell happened between then
and now?”

I looked at the guy sitting next to King. His

mohawk had shortened over the years, but it was
still there and still electric blue.

“Someone was in the back, Dad.” Yeah, Rigid,

the blue mohawk, was my sire. His affinity for
colored hair didn’t run in the family. It had for a

brief summer when I was younger, but I had
decided to leave the colored hair to him. The
tattoos, though? Yeah, I had plenty of those.

“Who the hell was back there?” King

demanded.

“The chick who owns the groomers across the

street had a dog get away from her. I helped her
out.”

“Hair of the Dog?” Demon asked.
I nodded. “Yeah.” I hadn’t really taken notice

of the place before today, but obviously Demon
had.

King’s phone buzzed, and he grabbed it off the

table. He grunted after looking at the screen. “Let’s
get down to shit. Meg’s breathing down my collar
to get on the road.”

Rigid laughed. “Same with Cyn. It’s like she’s

never had a vacation before in her life.”

“I still think we should have just sent all of the

girls off on their own instead of fucking agreeing to
go with them,” Slider complained. “Fayth has four
suitcases packed, and even though I keep telling
her that she can’t bring that many, she isn’t fucking
listening. That damn Banachi blood in her…” he
trailed off.

“I still can’t believe we’re cramming twelve

people into that fucking RV.” King shook his head.

“Only to sleep and the thing is fucking huge.

At least we’ll have the cage behind us pulling the

trailer with the bikes,” Rigid pointed out.

“It’s like a fucking house moving down the

road. Swear to God, Meg and Cyn rented the
biggest one they could find.” Gambler laughed and
shook his head.

“Right,” King drawled. “I’ve got the credit

card bill to fucking prove it.”

It was fucking huge. I had been one of the

guys to help guide it into Demon’s driveway two
days ago. It would be a miracle if they could
actually drive it from Wisconsin to Arizona.

Gravel and Ethel had moved to Apache

Junction in Arizona over a year ago. Meg and King
had gone out to visit them a few times, but
tomorrow, Demon, Gambler, Rigid, Slider, King,
their old ladies, and two other friends were all
heading there in basically a yacht on wheels.

“Good thing we planned on the drive out there

taking a couple of days.” Slider kicked back in his
chair.

“Try more than seven days,” King laughed.

“We leave tomorrow, and we don’t get to Apache
Junction until Wednesday.”

“Today is fucking Monday,” Gambler grunted.

“What the hell are we going to do for seven days in
a damn RV?”

“A whole hell of a lot. Cyn has a three-page

list of places we’re stopping.” Rigid smirked. “I’m
pretty sure one day we only drive about eighty

miles before we stop again for the night.”

“All right, let’s get shit squared away,” King

grunted. “Shit needs to keep running while we’re
gone. That’s where you assholes come into play.”

King looked at me and then moved around the

rest of the table— Zig, Zag, Pie, Frost, and Easy.
Snapper was out in the common room since he was
still just a prospect. We were basically the kids of
the other guys sitting around the table.

Frost, Zig, and Zag were Demon’s kids. Easy

and his sister Greta, who hung around the club,
belonged to Gambler. Pie’s dad wasn’t technically a
part of the club, but he was always around seeing
as he was best friends with King’s ol’ lady.
Snapper’s dad, Turtle, had been part of the club,
but he had died in a drunk driving accident along
with Snapper’s mom when Snapper was only three,
so King and his ol’ lady had raised him.

We were the second generation of the Devil’s

Knights who were one day going to take over, but
each one of our dads were dragging their feet
getting away from the damn club. We knew they
would be Devil’s Knights until they died, but giving
up a little responsibility to us would be nice.

“Which one of you thinks they can take care

of the club while I’m gone?”

I was the only one to raise my hand.
Everyone at the table knew I had been

dreaming of the day when I would be the president

of the Devil’s Knights.

I was born to be president.
From the time I came out kicking and

screaming, I was in the clubhouse. Watching how
things worked. Seeing the brotherhood between
everyone.

It was amazing, and I wanted to be in charge

of that. I wanted to be the person who wouldn’t let
the Devil’s Knights die.

“You think you’re up for making sure all of

the parts of the club keep moving?” King asked me.

I nodded. “Yes, sir.” I may have been

twenty-eight, but King still managed to pull huge
respect from me. He was the man who had made
the Devil’s Knights what it was. He had built this
brotherhood.

“Luna is managing Sultry Knights. She

should be fine over there, but one of you should
still keep an eye on things.” King pointed to Pie.
“Keep an eye on your sister.” In true King fashion,
he first said it was up to us, and then, he went
ahead and made the decision.

Pie grunted his annoyance but nodded.

“Will do.”

I was going to hear about this later when we

were done with church.

“Since Meg is going to be gone, too, someone

is going to have to take over all the shit she does.”

Frost raised his hand. “Meg went over

everything with me the other day. The paperwork
and office shit seems pretty easy.”

King nodded. “Good. Try not to fuck up her

shit too much while she’s gone.”

Frost smirked. “I’ll try.”
We all knew by the time Meg came back from

vacation that Frost was going to have everything
fucked up.

King tipped his head to the side, and his eyes

connected with mine. “Guess you’ll get your wish
of pretending to be president.”

I didn’t want to pretend. I wanted it to be true.

“No one is pretending around here.”

Dad chuckled. “Such a cocky kid.”
“Wonder where he got that from?” King

muttered.

Rigid ran his fingers through his blue mohawk.

“No clue. Must be his mom.”

I rolled my eyes. Dad was one of the cockiest

sitting around this table, but he was also one of the
most loyal people you would ever meet. Every guy
sitting around this table was loyal to a fault.

King leaned forward and grabbed the gavel.

“You’re getting your wish, Hero. The club is in
your hands while we’re all gone. If you manage to
not burn down the clubhouse while we’re away,
maybe I’ll be able to take a few more vacations
before I get too old to enjoy them.” He slammed
the gavel on the table. “Meeting over. Let’s go on

vacation, assholes.”

The older members of the club filed out,

laughing and talking about loading up the RV.

“This shit really happening?” Pie asked.
We all stared at the empty chairs on the

opposite end of the table.

Frost shifted next to me and pinched my arm.
“What the fuck, brah?” I grumbled.
“Just seeing if we were dreaming.” He

shrugged and sat back in his chair.

“Next time, pinch yourself, dumbass.” I

growled. I rubbed my arm and resisted the urge to
punch Frost in the face.

“How long are they gone for?” Zag asked.
“Six weeks for sure. Maybe longer.”
I whistled low. Holy fuck. “You know what

they say, right?” A smile spread across my lips.
“When the cats are away, the mice will play.”

King and all the older members were going

to be gone. It was time for the next generation of
Knights to take over.

At least for six weeks.

Chapter Three

Reva

“What in the heck is going on? I couldn’t even

get in the driveway.”

I looked up from the Aussie I was bathing.

“Uh, what?” I had been in the grooming zone and
hadn’t even noticed Pam walk in with Mikey on his
leash.

“Honey, there is a huge monstrosity blocking

the whole damn road!” Pam exclaimed.

What the hell is she talking about? I tethered

Oscar to the wash tub and hung up the sprayer. “I’ll
be right back, big man.” Thankfully, Oscar actually
liked his bath time and just sat down. “Good boy,” I
muttered.

I wiped my hands on the towel on the

counter and moved around the front desk to where
Pam had her nose pressed to the glass of the front
door. I squeezed in next to her, and my jaw
dropped.

Sure as shit, there was a huge RV blocking the

whole road. “What in the hell?”

Pam clicked her tongue. “I done told you,

sugar.”

She had told me, but it was hard to believe

without actually seeing it.

“Whoever it is has the motorcycle club

helping them out, thankfully.”

I squinted and tried to catch a glimpse of the

guys with the club cuts on. “Are you sure it isn’t
the motorcycle club in the RV?”

The door to the RV swung open, and four

women hustled out. One had purple hair and was
wearing a black sundress with a straw hat clutched
in her hand.

“Well, hell,” Pam whispered. “You’re right.

That’s Meg and her friends that just jumped off.”

“You know them?” How the hell did Pam

know who those women were?

“Sugar, doesn’t everyone in this town know

who Meg is? She’s basically an institution.” Pam
turned to me. “That’s Cyn, Marley, and Gwen who
just hopped off the RV with her.”

“Oh, I know Gwen.” She had cut my hair a

couple times. I had recently tried to get in with her
again, but she was booked up and then she was
going on vacation. Obviously, in the huge RV that
was blocking the road. Though I didn’t know she
was part of the motorcycle club across the street.

Two more women hopped off the RV.
“And there are Paige and Fayth.”
I squinted at Pam. “How in the hell do you

know all of these women?”

Pam tsked. “If you would get out a little bit,

Reva, you would know a whole hell of a lot more

people than the dogs you groom.”

Well, that was a little harsh, though it was

pretty accurate. If you didn’t bring your dog in to
be groomed, then I had no idea who you were.

“I work a lot, Pam. There isn’t any shame in

that,” I mumbled defensively.

“There isn’t anything wrong with that if you

manage to carve out a little time that doesn’t
involve dogs.” Pam passed me the leash in her
hand. “I think you prefer the company of dogs to
people, Reva.”

Well, now that was another truth. Dogs were

easy. Treat them well and they were loyal. Humans
didn’t exactly work that way. You could treat
someone perfectly and they could turn on you in an
instant.

Dogs were better than most people.
“I’m going to ignore everything you just said

and not charge you double for Mikey’s bath today.”

Pam laughed and patted me on the shoulder.

“Even I know you don’t have it in you to do that,
sugar. I’ll be back around five for Mikey.” She
breezed out the front door and headed over to the
group of women who were standing on the edge of
the road next to the RV.

Mikey whined at his mom’s retreating back,

and I crouched down next to him. “It’s okay, bud.
Mom will be back in a couple of hours.”

It was almost noon, and I had three dogs left

to groom today besides Mikey.

Even though I had work to do, I stayed

crouched down in front of the door and stroked
Mikey’s soft fur.

The women stayed on the edge of the road,

and then four guys in club cuts came around the
front of the RV.

“Oh boy,” I whispered. Hero was one of them.

I would know that swagger anywhere. I had
watched him walk away yesterday, and I hadn’t
forgotten it at all.

Mikey whined, and I had to wonder if Hero

had some type of magical powers over dogs. I
didn’t know if Mikey was actually crying for Hero
or his mom, but if I had to choose, I would say he
was crying over the sexy biker.

My eyes shifted to Pam who was talking

animatedly to the women and then swung her arm
to my shop. I pulled Mikey to my side and shrunk
to the edge of the door. I tipped my head just
enough to still see out the window, and my eyes
connected with Hero’s.

“Shit!” I gasped. He was more than fifty feet

away, but I knew he was looking right at me. He
said something to the guy to his left, and then, he
moved toward my shop.

“Shit shit!”

What in the hell was he doing coming over

here? I had nothing to do with the RV blocking the

road. I didn’t have a problem with it, either. I
assumed it would be moved shortly and the world
would keep turning.

Hero did not need to come over here.
I shot up, pulled Mikey behind the counter,

and put him in the cage by the sink. He was up next
as soon as I finished with Oscar.

The bell dinged above the door, and I didn’t

need to turn around to know who had walked in.

“Sunshine.”
Ugh. His voice was like honey, and it took

everything I had to not melt into a puddle right then
and there. Oscar stood and barked once.

“Uh, hey,” I called.

I moved to Oscar and patted him on the

head. His eyes were trained on Hero, and his tail
wagged excitedly. I swear to God, it was like Hero
looked like a juicy pork chop to these dogs. Their
eyes lit up when they saw him, and they wanted to
be right next to that delicious piece of meat.

So did I.

“Sorry about the road.”
“Road?” I asked, feigning ignorance.
“Uh, the big ass RV blocking the road. The

whole road.”

“Oh,” I gasped. “I didn’t even know.” Oh, my

God. Why in the hell was I acting like a moron who
couldn’t see a forty-foot RV in the road?

He tipped his head to the side and smiled.

“Yeah, there’s an RV blocking the road. That lady
that just came out of here said you knew about it.”

Fucking hell, Pam. “Oh, that RV.” As if a

forty-foot RV blocking the road in front of my shop
was a normal thing.

“Yeah. The guys will have it out of the way

soon. They have to load the bikes onto the trailer
and then they’re out of here,” Hero explained.

I nodded as if I actually knew what the heck

he was talking about. “Sounds great.” Mikey
barked from the cage at my feet and whined.

“Is that Barbara?” Hero called.
I glanced down at Mikey. “Nope. Barb went

home yesterday. That’s Mikey raising a ruckus.”

Oscar whined, joining Mikey.
“You kind of got your hands full there, huh?”

Hero asked. He moved to the front desk and leaned
forward to look at Mikey. “Mind if I pet him?”

“I…uh…well…” I stumbled over my words,

and Hero took them as an invitation to come
around the counter and crouch down in front of
Mikey's cage.

“Aren’t you a handsome guy,” he cooed to

Mikey. Mikey pressed his face to the cage and
stuck a paw out to Hero. Hero laughed and shook
his paw.

Hero had to have a link of pepperoni in his

pocket or something. That was about the only way
these dogs would be so excited to see him.

“What’s in your pockets?” I blurted out.

OH, MY GOD. I just said that. I JUST SAID THAT
OUTLOUD.

Hero tipped his head back to me. “Uh, what?”
I shook my head. “It’s pepperoni, right?” As if

me asking that was going to clarify why I asked him
what was in his pockets? My God. I wished I had
the ability to disappear because that would have
been pretty handy dandy right now.

Hero stood, and I realized how close he was to

me. He put his hands in his pockets and turned
them inside out. “Nothing in my pockets, Sunshine.
Especially not pepperoni.”

My cheeks heated, and I knew I was turning a

bright shade of red. “I was trying to say you must
have pepperoni in your pockets since every dog
you meet loves you.” There, now I made some kind
of sense. Sort of. A little.

Ugh. Hero needed to go because I only

seemed to know how to make a fool of myself in
front of him.

“I guess dogs just like me.” He reached around

me and patted Oscar on the head. “I always had a
dog growing up, and they loved me, too.”

“Lucky dogs,” I mumbled. I closed my eyes

and prayed for the floor to open up and swallow
me. Where in the hell had my filter gone? It was
like I couldn’t keep a single thought inside of my
head without blurting it out.

“Yeah,” Hero laughed. “They were good

dogs.”

His eyes connected with mine, and I

couldn’t turn away from him. The heat of his gaze
held me in place, and I swear it was like he could
see into my mind and know exactly what I was
thinking. His deep blue eyes glittered like the
ocean, and all I wanted to do was swim around and
float in them. They were hypnotizing.

“Sunshine.”
I shook my head. “Uh, yeah?”
“I asked you if we were messing with your

business with the RV in the road? The thing is so
huge that King didn’t want to pull it into the
clubhouse parking lot because he didn’t think he
had enough room to turn it around.”

“No business.” I shook my head. “I mean no,

you’re not hurting my business. Pam dropped off
my last dog for the day, and no one else is coming
until closer to five for pickups.” There. I finally said
something that made sense. I looked away from
Hero and stepped back. “It’s all good in the hood.”
And there I went sounding like an idiot again.

Hero smothered a laugh. “That’s good. For the

hood, that is.”

I glanced at him and cringed. “I’m normally

not a tool,” I insisted.

He tipped his head to the side. “Never once

thought you were a tool, Sunshine. You actually fit

in pretty damn good with the other women in my
life.”

Other women. Jesus. How many chicks was

he dating?

“Well, okay.” What was I supposed to say

to that?

“I could tell you some stories about my mom

and her best friend, Meg. Life with those two
around was never dull.” He sounded amused, but I
could tell he wasn’t making fun of his mom. He was
proud.

His mom and her friend. Those were the other

women in his life? I found it hard to believe that he
was referring to them and not a girlfriend. I nodded
and smiled. Now instead of saying something
ridiculous, I was silent Betty.

Oscar whined.
“Uh, I should probably get back to work.

Oscar is a good boy, but sitting in a sink half clean
probably isn’t all that fun.”

“I came in to make sure we weren’t messing

with your business, and then, I stand here
distracting you.” He chuckled and ran his fingers
through his hair.

He was distracting. So distracting. A man

shouldn’t be allowed to be that handsome without
coming with a warning sign.

Warning: So hot will fry your brain. Will

render you speechless and/or a bumbling fool.

He reached out and patted Oscar on the head

again. “Have a good bath, buddy.” He moved back
to the front door, and I didn’t take my eyes off him.
It was physically impossible for me to not look at
him when he was within fifty feet.

“Did you call your landlord?”
I blinked twice and tried to get my brain

working again after watching his butt. “Uh, for?”

“The lock, Sunshine.”
Oh. “Uh, not yet.”
Hero shook his head. “Stay safe.” He pushed

out the front door, and I watched him through the
glass ‘til he disappeared.

I looked down at Oscar and sighed. He laid his

paw on my side and grunted.

“Yeah, boy,” I mumbled. “I really need to get

a grip.” I had gone years without ever running into
any of the club members of the MC, and now,
suddenly, two days in a row, I had managed to
embarrass myself in front of Hero.

I turned on the water and tried to focus on

finishing up Oscar.

Hero had said he was a distraction, and he was

damn right.

From now on, I was going to have to run the

other way and hide if I saw him coming.

Hero was too handsome for his own good, and

he knew it.

Hero

“Where did you go?”
I slid my sunglasses over my eyes and folded

my arms over my chest. “You’re blocking the
entrance to the strip mall, Mom. I went to make
sure we weren't pissing everyone off.”

Mom pointed a finger into her chest. “I’m not

blocking the road, Micha. That damn RV is.”

I rolled my eyes but only because she

wouldn’t be able to see me do it. “You know what I
mean. And, you and Meg are the ones who rented
that bigass thing.”

“Cyn,” Meg called.
Mom raised her finger over her head. “Just

one second, Meg,” she called. She turned her finger
on me. “I know you rolled your eyes behind those
sunglasses, Micha Scott. And we bought the RV. It
was cheaper that way.”

My jaw dropped. That was news to me. “You

and Dad becoming gray-haired roaming the country
in a huge ass RV?”

She rolled her eyes and held up a large piece

of her hair. “Does this look gray to you? I’m fifty-
five, smartass, not one hundred.”

“Same difference?”
She slugged me in the arm. “It’s my own damn

fault for making you such a smartass,” she

grumbled.

“Growing up around the clubhouse might have

had something to do with that, too.”

“Cyn!” Meg called again.
Mom closed her eyes and whispered, “For

Pete’s sake. She’s been frantically going over this
bigass checklist all morning. It’s like there aren’t
stores and restaurants along the way or something.”
She spun around. “What’s up?” she called
cheerfully.

Meg beelined over with a clipboard in her

hands. “The guys are almost done loading up the
bikes. I tried to convince Lo to just leave them
behind.”

Even I knew Meg had wasted her breath

trying to convince King to leave his bike behind for
weeks.

“He would have stolen Gravel’s the whole

time, then,” Mom laughed.

Meg pursed her lips. “Accurate,” she

mumbled. “Do you think we’re going to have
enough chips?”

Mom grabbed the clipboard from her hands.

She looked it over, pointed her finger at one of the
handwritten items, and flipped it around to Meg.
“Is that a twenty-six?” she asked her.

Meg squinted and nodded. “Yes.”
“So you have twenty-six bags of chips on that

land yacht?” Mom asked.

Meg confirmed with a nod. “Yeah. I think we

need a few more bags.”

Damn. That was an awful lot of chips. “You

guys planning on eating only chips?” I chuckled.

Meg shook her head seriously. “No. I also

have two weeks’ worth of groceries.”

Mom ripped the list off the clipboard. She tore

the papers in half and then in half again. “You’re
done.”

Meg’s jaw dropped.
Mom snapped the clipboard in half and

dropped it on the road. “Done.” She stomped down
the length of the RV and stormed up the stairs
inside.

“She just broke my clipboard.” Meg picked up

the two pieces and held them together. “My
clipboard.”

“Meg?!?!” Mom screeched from inside the RV.
Uh oh.
Meg closed one eye and cringed. “She

probably figured out where I put all of the chips.”
Meg jogged to the stairs and jumped into the RV.

Dad moved next to me and clapped a hand on

my shoulder. “You ever wanna be a fly on the wall
when those two are together? Just to listen to all of
the weird shit they get into?”

“The little that I’ve been able to see of them

together is enough to last a lifetime.” Meg and
Mom were forever getting into trouble. All my life,

I had been front row to all their antics.

“You sure you’re gonna be okay while we are

gone?” Dad asked.

I shrugged. “Don’t see why not. Make sure no

one dies and the clubhouse doesn’t burn down. I
got this.”

Dad shook his head. “I think you’re gonna see

there is a whole lot more to keeping this club going
than that. I’m almost kind of disappointed I won’t
be able to see you figure shit out.”

“I’ve been around the club since I was born. I

know what I’m doing.”

“That’s when things happen, son. When you

think you’ve got it all figured out, life comes along
and knocks you on your ass.” He smirked and ran
his fingers through his mohawk. “Thank God you
got your mom’s ass because you’re going to need
the padding when it happens.”

The other club members boarded the RV

except for Slider and Fayth who were going to
drive the cage with the trailer of bikes behind them.

King was the last one to get on the RV. He

turned when he was halfway up the steps and
leaned out. “Try not to fuck shit up too bad, Hero.”

I tipped my head to him. “Asshole,” I

mumbled under my breath.

“Heard that,” King called. He closed the doors

of the RV and took the seat behind the wheel.

I stood with the rest of the guys who were

staying, and we watched the land yacht and van
slowly creep out of town and head toward the
highway.

“I didn’t ever think they’d leave,” Easy

grunted.

“Thank God they actually got all of the bikes

on that trailer. Demon had to do some pretty
creative maneuvering to fit them all.” Zig laughed.

Zag pulled out a cigarette and stuck it in the

side of his mouth. “I thought they were gonna start
stacking them.”

“Pretty sure we were all ready to help them

figure out how to get them loaded to make sure
they took off.” Frost pulled out a lighter and
handed it to Zag. “I’m assuming you’re gonna need
that.”

Zag grabbed the lighter. He was a smoker but

he never managed to actually have a lighter on him.

“Well, boys,” I laughed. “Looks like it’s just

us for the next few weeks.”

Pie hooted and pumped his fist in the air.

“Fuck yeah!”

The guys ambled across the road.
I looked back at Reva’s place. I didn’t see her

in the door like I had before. She really did have a
lot of work to do, and I had been distracting.

The problem was I liked distracting her.
She had this strange confidence mixed with a

bit of awkward that was fascinating to watch.

Beep beep.
Fuck. I stepped to the side of the road and

waved to the car wanting to pass. First the RV had
been blocking the road, and now, I was just
standing in the middle of it.

Jesus.
I headed back to the clubhouse trying to figure

out how I was going to see Reva again. I twisted
the handle of the front door and smiled.

I knew just what I was going to do next.

Chapter Four

Reva

“I’m gonna be late, Mom.” I grabbed my keys

from the counter and pulled the door shut behind
me.

“I’m on the phone, Reva. I don’t know how

you can blame being late on me.”

I rolled my eyes. Harry was sitting outside on

his small porch next door. He had moved in about a
year ago and seemed to keep to himself, for the
most part. I was in one unit of the duplex, and
Harry was in the other.

He raised his hand in an awkward wave but

didn’t say anything. I raised my coffee cup and
gave a tight smile. He was the silent type you
weren’t too sure about because you just didn’t
know them.

“You’re the one who called me twenty

minutes ago and started arguing with me about Dad
going fishing this weekend.”

Mom huffed into the phone. “I don’t know

why you think you have to side with him all of the
time. He goes to the damn lake every weekend.
Don’t you think he could stay home and spend
some time with me?”

I beeped open the locks on my car and

wedged the phone between my face and shoulder
to free my hand. “Why don’t you go with him? He
can fish, and you can putter around in the cabin.”

“Cabin,” Mom spat. “It’s a shack, Reva.

You’re insulting cabins by calling that a cabin.”

I pulled open the door and slipped in behind

the wheel. Rearranging the phone, I dropped my
purse in the passenger seat and shoved the key into
the ignition. Once the car was running, I rummaged
around in my purse and pulled out my toasted
bagel. Normally, I had time to eat before I left the
house, but Mom’s call completely messed me up
this morning. “Then why don’t you and Dad go up
to the shack, he goes fishing and then you can
cabin hunt for a new place on the lake.” I ripped
off a piece of the bagel and popped it into my
mouth.

“Well…I…” she sputtered.
It was a great idea. It would give her

something to do while thinking that she was
spending time with Dad. Of course, Dad would go
fishing while she cabin hunted, though. The lake he
loved to fish on was near the south side of Falls
City.

“You don’t have to tell me I’m right, just

hang up the phone and start searching the internet
like I know you’re craving to do.”

“You’re my favorite daughter. I’ll call you

later.” The line went dead, and I tossed my phone

on the seat. I was her only daughter, but it was nice
to hear.

I took a slug of my coffee, shoved another

piece of bagel into my mouth, and shifted into
reverse. Harry still sat on his front porch and stared
directly at me.

Creepy.
I gave a little wave, and he nodded his head to

me.

Still creepy.
I backed out of my parking spot and onto the

road. On the drive to work, I managed to eat more
than half of my bagel and finish all of my coffee. I
pulled into the parking lot for Hair of the Dog and
was surprised as hell to see Hero and his bike right
in front of the shop.

“What in tarnation?” I mumbled. I parked

next to him and grabbed my half eaten bagel and
purse. “Uh, there’s nothing blocking the road
today,” I laughed nervously.

I had no idea what the hell he was doing

here. It was barely nine o’clock in the morning. Did
bikers get up early? The stereotype of partying all
night and sleeping all day played in my head.
Though, that seemed like a bad 80s song.

“Morning,” he called. His usual sunglasses

covered his eyes, and a slick smile played on his
lips. He leaned against his parked bike with his
arms folded over his chest. His ripped and tattered

blue jeans fit snugly on his legs, and his leather vest
hung open. I could only make out part of his shirt,
but it looked to be the club's logo scrawled over his
chest. If one wanted to know what a biker looked
like, all they needed to do was look at Hero. He
was the epitome of a badass biker.

“That it is,” I muttered. “Did you leave

something here yesterday?” Seriously. I had no
freaking clue why he was here. I had gone years
never speaking to one of the Devil’s Knights, and
now, three days in a row, I had run into Hero.
Though, it seemed today he had sought me out
without a runaway dog or big RV as an excuse.

Hero shook his head. “Nope.”
Okay. Well. Uh? “Do you have a dog?” Maybe

he was bringing it in to be groomed, though I didn’t
know where he had put the dog since he drove his
bike here.

Hero shook his head again. “Haven’t had a

dog for a few years. Mom and Dad had one for a
while, but he passed away a couple of months ago.”

My heart dropped at the sadness of losing a

pet. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Hero shrugged. “He was old and lived a damn

good life. Mom fed him chicken and rice every day,
and Dad took him everywhere with him.”

If only everyone could be that good with their

pets then I wouldn’t have to cry when that horribly
sad commercial came on for the ASPCA. Broke my

damn heart every time. “That’s nice.” I looked at
the shop and back at him. “So, uh, why are you
here, then?”

Might as well get right to it. I had a full day

of baths and cuts today and was already running a
little behind.

A truck pulled into the lot and parked next to

Hero.

Hero nodded to the truck. “I’m here for him.”
Uh, okay? I looked at the side of the truck.

Nelson Lock and Key. That still didn’t help me
figure out what the hell Hero was doing.

“Hero!” the man in the truck rolled down his

window and called. “This the place?” he asked.

Hero gave him a thumbs up. “Sure is. You’re

right on time, too.”

Time for what? Did Hero lose the key to his

bike or something? I timidly raised my hand. “Uh,
can someone clue me in on what’s going on?”

Hero tipped his head to the front door of the

shop. “New door and locks, Sunshine.”

I tilted my head to the side and pointed to the

door. “My door? That door? The door?” When
would I stop sounding so stupid?

“Yes, yes, and yes.” Hero pushed off the bike

and stepped toward me. “That door is shit,
Sunshine. Anyone could break in if they had half a
mind.”

“Who would break into a dog groomers?

They're gonna steal my good clippers or
something?”

Hero laughed and shook his head. “Well, now

that wasn’t what I was thinking, but sure, if they’re
expensive.”

“No one is going to break in, Hero.”
Hero nodded to the guy who had gotten out of

his truck. “Tim drove all the way over here, and
now, you’re just going to send him away?”

“Well…I didn’t… You…” I sputtered. “There

isn’t anything truly wrong with the door.” So it
stuck a little bit when I tried to lock it. Not really a
big deal. And it really only happened when it
started to warm up. During the winter, it worked
perfectly.

“How about you just open the door and you

let him have a look at it?” Hero suggested. “Just
looking, no touching,” he promised.

I tipped my head to the side. “Really?”
Hero held up his hands. “Scout’s honor,

Sunshine.”

I fished in my purse for the shop key.

“Something tells me you are far from a boy scout,
Hero,” I muttered under my breath. I stomped over
to the door, shoved in the key, and twisted it. Well,
I tried to twist it, but it didn’t budge. I moved to
block the view of Hero and the door guy and put
one hand on the door to push it in while I tried to
twist the key again.

“You having a moment with the door,

Sunshine? Should we give you two a minute?”

I growled and gave the key a hard twist. It

finally budged and unlocked. I tried to yank the key
out, but it was now stuck inside. “For Pete’s sake,”
I grumbled. I turned around and slapped a smile on
my face. “Perhaps the door could use a little lookie
lou seeing as it’s refusing to give me back my key.”
A gave a small bow to Hero then twisted back
around to open the door. I strutted in without a
backward glance.

Hero’s rich laugh followed me until the door

closed behind me.

“Well,” I muttered, “that was embarrassing.

Nothing new when it comes to Hero being around.”

“You talking to yourself now, Sunshine?”
I whirled around and clutched my hand to my

chest. “Sweet Jesus, man. Don’t you know you’re
not supposed to sneak up on people? They should
call you Speedy, not Hero.”

“I think Hero has a better ring to it,” he

chuckled.

He was right. “Whatever,” I muttered. I

moved around the front counter and tossed my
purse on the shelf below.

“You pretty busy today?” Hero leaned against

the front counter and damned if he didn’t look
handsome as hell just staring at me. I had to wonder
if he really knew just how good looking he was. I

figure most people knew if they were hot or not,
right? But Hero was beyond hot. He was off the
charts handsome, and he was standing there looking
at me.

Oh. He had asked me a question. He was

waiting for an answer. “Uh, some?”

His lips curled into a smile. “You’re some

busy?”

Ugh. Major facepalm. I nodded dumbly.

“Yes.” Might as well just roll with it.

“Knock, knock!”
Hero glanced over his shoulder, and I leaned

to the side to see Mrs. Klein stood in the door with
Cosmo on her arms while Tim was on his knees
with his face to the locky thing on the door.

“Hey!” I called, thankful to have a distraction

from Hero. “He’s gotten so big!”

Tim moved and motioned for Mrs. Klein to

come in.

She stepped through the doorway and smiled

at Hero. “This is a sight I never thought I would
see. Hero at the dog groomers,” she laughed.

Hero shrugged. “Supporting local business,”

he replied breezily.

“Still smooth,” Mrs. Klein muttered. “I knew

the second you walked in my classroom in tenth
grade that you were going to be trouble.” She
winked at me. “Though back then, you were
Micha.”

Ah. So his real name was Micha. How

interesting. I would have to file that away for later.
I knew Mrs. Klein had recently retired from
teaching, but I didn’t realize she had been one of
Hero’s teachers. She had decided to adopt a golden
lab puppy to occupy her time now that she wasn’t
teaching. Cosmo was a handful, but he was the
cutest puppy ever. I loved that she brought him in
every three weeks for a bath, though I did feel a
little bad about it because he really wasn’t dirty
enough to need a bath each time he was here.

“He’s six months, and he still loves for me to

carry him everywhere.” She moved to the counter
and set Cosmo on the counter.

I scratched his chin. “You’re training her well,

Cosmo. I bet you just have to bat those pretty blue
puppy eyes at her, huh, buddy?”

“That’s the truth,” Mrs. Klein confessed.
“I see you’ve softened over the years,” Hero

hemmed.

Ms. Klein laughed. “For puppies, yes. For high

school students, no.” She turned her smile to me.
“I’ll be back around three to pick him up. Is that
okay?”

I nodded. “Totally.” That would give me

plenty of time to bathe him and get some playtime
in with the little cutie.

Mrs. Klein left with a wave, and then it was

back to Hero standing inside my shop while Tim

walked out to his truck.

“Don’t you have something to be doing?” I

asked. I picked up Cosmo and scratched him
behind his ears. He leaned into my touch and
closed his eyes. This little cutie made me
contemplate kidnapping. He was the perfect puppy.
Though he was getting on the big side to be carried
around. He had to be pushing thirty-five pounds.

“Not really.”
I rolled my eyes and moved to the large wash

basin. “Must be nice.” I hated that saying and hated
that it had come out of my mouth. Ugh.

“It is pretty nice, Sunshine. Later in the day is

when things get a little busy for me,” he explained.

Oh, well. I turned on the water and held my

hand under it until it warmed up. “I should be okay
over here if you have anything you could be
doing.” Casually hinting that he could leave was
not working. I might as well yell at him to leave
with the way I was awkwardly suggesting he go.
Smooth, I was not.

“Do I make you nervous, Sunshine?”
Not nervous. Well, maybe a little. I shook my

head. “No. I just figured you had better things to do
than watch me give Cosmo a bath.”

“Figured you’d like some company that

actually talks.”

I laughed and shook my head. “That’s one of

the appeals of my job. None of these cuties talk

back.”

Hero’s phone rang in his pocket. He looked at

it and frowned. “You’re in luck, Sunshine. I gotta
take this. I’ll be outside if you need me.”

I nodded. Saved by the phone. “I’m good.”
He walked out the front door that Tim had

propped open and stood by his bike with his phone
to his ear.

Tim moved into the doorway and grimaced. “I

hate to say it, but I think you’re going to need a
new door.”

I frowned. Shit. I didn’t have the type of funds

on me to be putting on a new front door. Hell, my
landlord should have been taking care of this, not
me. Wasn’t that what I was paying a buttload of
rent for?

“Uh, are you sure?”

“Do it,” Hero called.
What the hell? Did he have bionic hearing or

something? “Can you just try to fix the lock?”

“Get the new door, Tim, and send your bill to

Russ. I talked to him yesterday,” Hero clarified.

Wait, what? He had talked to Russ? Why the

hell didn’t I know that?

Hero pressed the phone back to his ear and

wandered into the parking lot, talking.

Tim held up his hands and shrugged.
There wasn’t any point in arguing with Tim

since he was just doing what he was being paid to

do.

“I have a door at my shop that should fit.” Tim

reached up and brushed his fingers over the glass.
“Not foggy like this one.”

I got it, the door I had was shit.
“I’ll call one of the guys to bring it over while

I work on taking this one out.” Tim walked back
out the door toward his truck.

I sighed and looked down at Cosmo. “Why

does it feel like I have no control over anything
going on in my life when that man is around?”

Cosmo whined and licked my hand.
“It’s because he’s good looking, isn’t it? The

man fries my brain and I just go along with
whatever he says.” That was exactly what was
happening. Thankfully, the things he suggested and
did were all okay.

I knew I needed a new front door, but I just

never seemed to find the time to talk to Russ. Hero
had taken care of that for me. He wasn’t the one
putting the new door in, but he was the one who
was the reason for the new door. I looked over my
shoulder out the door and caught a glimpse of Hero
pacing back and forth with the phone to his ear. He
didn’t look happy, and his brows were furrowed.

“Not good,” I muttered. He had said he

didn't have anything going on right now, but it
looked like something had sprung up that needed
his attention.

He glanced into the shop and caught me red

handed staring at him. I whipped my head back
around and grabbed the sprayer. I doused Cosmos'
head with warm water to look like I wasn’t just
ignoring my job and watching Hero. Thankfully,
Cosmo loved water and didn’t freak out.

I reached for the puppy soap and managed to

look to the side to see if Hero was still looking at
me. He had returned to pacing with his back to me.

Lordy. The man wasn’t even in the shop and

he was still distracting me.

I hoped this wasn’t going to become my new

normal, having him around while I worked, but
three days in a row proved to be a pattern.

A pattern I wasn’t too sure if I liked or not.
I glanced once more at him and caught sight of

his butt in his tight jeans.

Lord help me, but I was definitely liking it.

Chapter Five

Hero

“What in the hell do you mean?” I demanded

into the phone.

“One of the girls hasn’t been into work the

past two nights, and Luna is on a tear about
wanting to go over there to check on her.”

Damn Luna thought she was the mother hen

of all of the girls who worked at Sultry Knights,
even though most of them were older than her.

“And what exactly does she think she is

going to do when she goes over there? Maybe the
chick decided she doesn’t want to work anymore.
Luna has to get it in her head that these girls are not
her friends or daughters she has to take care of. If
they can’t punch the damn clock when they are
supposed to then they’re done.”

Pie groaned. “You don’t think I’ve tried to tell

her that? Damn King for putting me in charge of
keeping an eye on Luna. He knows damn well that
she doesn’t listen to a word that I say.”

He was right, but Luna needed to get it

through her head that Sultry Knights belonged to
the club, and she needed to listen to the club about
things. “What girl is missing?”

“Bunny.”

I didn’t even know which one of the girls that

was. “Does she miss work a lot?”

“Why don’t you just talk to Luna, yeah? I

don’t know the answers to your questions.”

The phone was muffled and scratchy, and

then, Luna was there. “I can’t believe he called
you,” she whined.

“I’m in charge while King is away,” I

reminded her.

“But I don’t see what that has to do with me.”
I closed my eyes. “Because you help manage

the club that belongs to the Devil’s Knights. The
Knights have say in everything you do there,
Luna.”

She scoffed, and I imagined she rolled her

eyes. Luna was good at that. “I just want to run
over to Bunny’s house and make sure she is okay,
Hero. I don’t know why you and the club have to
have anything to do with that.”

“Luna,” I called, “just take Pie and one of the

other guys with you.” Reasoning with Luna was
exhausting. She didn’t get the fact that she might be
walking into trouble. Most of the girls who worked
at the club were on the straight and narrow, and I
hoped Bunny was one of those, but you never
really knew. Luna may think that she knew her, but
she might be a completely different person outside
of the club.

“I don’t want to.”

Yeah. That was the type of stubbornness I had

to deal with when it came to Luna. No reason why.
Just didn’t want to listen. “Do you think I care
what you want?”

“You know,” Luna hissed, “King may be a

dick sometimes, but I know he has reasoning
behind it. You’re just a dick because you want to
lord over everyone.”

“You must not want your cushy job of

managing the club anymore, Luna, if you think you
can talk to me like that.” Making a comfortable
ninety grand a year managing a strip club had gone
straight to Luna’s head.

“This has nothing to do with my job and

everything to do with me wanting to make sure
Bunny is okay,” Luna insisted.

I sighed. “Fine, Luna. I get it. Just take Pie

and Frost with you. You get eyes on her, find out
where she is, and then your ass is back to the club.”

“Yes, father,” Luna grumbled. “I’m not riding

on the back of either of their bikes, though,” she
argued. “I can drive myself there.”

Of course, she had to have something her way.

“I don’t fucking care, Luna. Just make sure they
have your back when you knock on her door, you
got me?”

“Aye, aye, captain.”
I punched the end button and shoved the

phone in my pocket.

The first full day with King gone and I already

had to deal with Luna on a tear. I knew she would
throw a wrench in my freedom of being prez, but I
figured she would have given me a few days before
she started throwing her sass and tantrums.

The strip club was only a couple miles down

the main road, and I stood facing the clubhouse. I
pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and on my first drag,
Frost stormed out of the clubhouse.

“Yo!” I called.
His head snapped to me. “What the fuck,

man? You volunteer me for babysitting?”

I shrugged. “You were the first one to come to

mind.”

“How about your ass comes with? This is

complete bullshit.”

None of the guys wanted to have to babysit

Luna. She was a pain in the ass who had to throw
her sass wherever she went.

I glanced back at Hair of the Dog. Tim was

working on taking off the door, and I couldn’t see
Reva. She didn’t need me there, but I didn’t want
to leave. There was club business going on, and I
should be involved. It was going to end up being
nothing, but King would have gone if he were here.

Son of a bitch.
“Hold up,” I called to Frost. “Don’t leave

without me.” I turned on my heel and headed into
Hair of the Dog. Tim moved to the side so I could

walk in, and I pushed my sunglasses on top of my
head.

“Sunshine,” I called.
Reva jumped and clutched her hand to her

chest. “Sweet mother Mary,” she gasped. “I’m
gonna need you to stop sneaking up on me, Hero.”

“Sorry,” I chuckled. “Something came up and

I gotta take off. You okay here?”

She looked around. “Uh, yeah? I’m here every

day by myself, Hero.”

I knew she was normally alone all day, but that

didn’t sit right with me. Anything could happen to
her and no one would be there to help her.

“New door will be here in an hour,” Tim

interrupted. “I’ll be here most of the day taking this
one out and putting a new one in.”

I had known Tim since I was thirteen and he

was nineteen, and I trusted him. “That’ll be good.”

Reva rolled her eyes. “Uh, I’m completely fine

by myself.”

She more than likely was, but a protective

urge came over me when it came to her. It was
instinctual, and I couldn’t explain it. “Just humor
me, Sunshine.”

Reva waved her hand to me and turned back

to the dog in the large wash sink. “This is me
humoring you. Go do your club stuff, Hero. I’m just
hunky-dory right here.”

“Hunky-dory, huh?” I laughed.

She raised her middle finger over her head.

“You should know by now I say what I say and
most of the time it’s embarrassing or ridiculous.”

That was the damn truth. Though that was one

of the things I liked about her. She didn’t have a
filter and said what she meant even if it was
something she probably shouldn’t say out loud. “I’ll
be back later.”

She glanced over her shoulder at me. “I’ll be

here. I have a hot date with a Saint Bernard later.”

“You’re gonna wrestle a Saint Bernard into

that sink?” I could just imagine Reva trying to
wrangle the large dog.

“Sure am,” she called.
“I’ll be back later to see that,” I promised.
She waved me off and turned off the water.

“See ya later, Hero.”

I nodded to Tim on my way out, and he had a

shit-eating grin on his face.

“She seems like a pistol,” he said quietly.
That was an understatement. “Keep an eye on

her while I’m gone.” I slid my sunglasses back over
my eyes and strolled over to my bike.

Frost was sitting on his bike next to mine.

“This the new place to hang out?” he asked.

I threw my leg over my bike and didn’t answer

him.

“I’ve been thinking about getting a dog.

Maybe I’ll go on inside and ask the pretty lady

what she thinks I should get.”

I cranked up my bike and revved the engine.

“Do it and I’ll shoot your nuts off!” I shouted over
the roar of the engine.

A goofy smile took over Frost’s face. “Don’t

tempt me, brother.” He started his bike and
knocked up the kickstand.

“Maybe I’ll just have you go babysit Luna by

yourself,” I threatened.

Frost’s smile fell, and he shook his head. “Not

cool,” he grumbled.

We pushed our bikes back and roared out of

the parking lot of Hair of the Dog. The ride to
Sultry Knights was short. I caught sight of the club,
and Luna was sitting in her car at the entrance of
the driveway with Pie on his bike behind her.

We slowed, and I motioned for Luna to go

ahead of us. She was the only one who knew where
the hell we were headed. She drove out of the city
limits of Rockton and hopped on the backroads that
ran along the Buckeye River.

We drove for another ten minutes ‘til we

pulled into a driveway that led up to a doublewide
trailer.

Luna was out of her car before I killed the

engine on my bike.

“Hold the fuck up,” I called to her. Frost

and Pie parked next to me, and we were off our
bikes. Luna stopped for half a second and then shot

up the rickety steps of the trailer.

“Jesus,” Pie mumbled. “Pretty sure these steps

aren’t going to hold.”

“Maybe you need to lay off the pie,” Frost

chuckled.

Pie grunted. “That ain’t never going to

happen, fucker.”

It wasn’t hard to figure out how Pie had

gotten his road name. He liked pie and nothing kept
him from it. He did have to be in the gym five days
of the week to make sure his ass didn’t get too big
for his bike, but he didn’t seem to mind working out
a lot if it meant he got to eat as much pie as he
wanted.

Luna knocked on the door and leaned over the

railing of the porch to peer into the window. “I
can’t see anything,” she grumbled.

“Because there's about fifteen years of dirt

and shit on that window,” Frost grunted. “I’m
gonna have to make sure my tetanus shot is up to
date after we leave here.”

“Real nice,” Luna muttered. “I could say the

same about your bedroom at the club. Last time I
walked back there, it smelled like a fucking
parakeet had died in there.”

“Uh, how would you know what a dead

parakeet smelled like?” I asked.

“Petey,” Luna and Pie replied in unison.
“We only had the fucker for two days, and

then we thought he flew away out of a window
Luna had left open,” Pie explained.

“I did not leave the window open,” Luna

insisted.

“Well, you did, but Petey sure as shit didn’t

fly out of the window.” Pie chuckled and shifted his
weight on the bottom step. “Luna found him in her
fucking panty drawer two weeks later.”

“Say what?” Frost laughed. “How the hell did

he get in there and you didn’t know?”

Luna knocked on the door again. “Do we

really have to talk about this right now?” she
grunted. “Bunny isn’t answering the door.”

“Maybe you locked her in your panty

drawer?” Pie suggested.

Frost and I both sputtered with laughter, and

the porch creaked precariously beneath us.

“I can’t believe King left you in charge,” she

snapped.

“And you think he would leave you in charge,

Petey killer?”

Luna tried the front door, and it swung open.

She looked over her shoulder at me. “Uh, whoops?”

I sobered up and pushed her to the side. “Stay

here until I say.” I looked back at Frost who was at
the bottom of the stairs. “Head around the back.”

Luna tried to move around me, but I blocked

her from the door. “Let me in, Hero. You really
think Bunny wants you barging into her place?”

Pie wrapped his arm around her and held

her in place. “Can you just fucking listen for once
in your life, Luna?” he growled.

She stopped struggling but glared at him.
I stepped into the trailer. It was eerily quiet.

Something wasn’t right. “Bunny,” I called. The
floor creaked as I walked, and I put my hand on the
grip of my gun. I called her name again but there
was no answer.

“The power has been cut,” Frost called from

the outside. “The fucking electric box is ripped
from the ground and all of the wires ripped off.”

Not good.
I walked through the living room where

nothing looked out of place. Frost stood at the
sliding glass door as I moved into the kitchen. He
slid it open and stepped inside. “I can tell you right
fucking now, some shit is up.” Frost pulled his gun
from the waist of his jeans.

I had to agree. “Everything looks normal,

though.”

Frost and I continued to make our way to the

back of the trailer. There were three closed doors.
The first one we opened was the bathroom, and
there was nothing in there. The second one had a
desk and a treadmill in the corner. Again, nothing
looked out of place.

We stood in front of the last closed door.
“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Frost

muttered.

I didn’t either. Everything seemed in place,

but the closer we had gotten to this door, a sense of
dread filled the pit of my stomach.

I twisted the handle and pushed open the door.
The smell of death wafted over us, and we

both covered our noses. “Fucking shit,” Frost
muttered.

A naked woman sprawled across the bed,

covered in blood. Her eyes were open wide, and it
looked like her jaw had been almost ripped off her
face. One of her legs was bent backward and
awkwardly tucked underneath her.

“She’s dead, man.”
“Ya think?” I grunted.
Frost made a step into the room.

I grabbed him by the shoulder. “Stop,

brother. Ain’t nothing we can fucking do to help
her, and we aren’t the cops.” The last thing we
needed to do was fuck up the crime scene. We
were probably already in some deep shit for coming
into the trailer.

We backtracked out of the trailer and closed

the front door behind us.

“She’s not in there?” Luna asked. She was

standing at the bottom of the stairs with Pie still
holding one of her arms.

Frost glanced at me.
We walked down the rickety steps and stood

in front of them to block Luna from going in.

“What the fuck is going on?” Luna screeched.
“Make the call,” I told Frost.
Frost pulled out his phone from his pocket and

wandered over to the bikes.

“Hero!” Luna yelled. She pulled out of Pie’s

grasp and catapulted herself into my chest. “What
the hell is going on?” she demanded again.

I grabbed her by both arms and held her tight.

“It’s not good, Goober.” I hadn’t called Luna her
childhood nickname in fucking years.

“No,” Luna gasped. “You can’t be right.”
I was right. There was no mistaking what I had

seen in there. “She’s gone.”

Luna beat my chest. “You should have let me

come out here right away! I could have helped
her.”

There was no way in hell Luna would have

been able to help Bunny if she had shown up
twenty minutes earlier. She had been dead for a
while. The smell that had hit Frost and me was
enough to knock you on your ass. It would have
only been a matter of time before the smell seeped
into the whole trailer.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she

fought to get around me. “Let me help her,” she
pleaded.

I wrapped her in my arms and pushed her back

toward the bikes. Luna might have been a force to

reckon with, but I could still hold her back. “There
isn’t anything you can do, Goober. She’s gone.”

A sob ripped from her lips, and she buried her

face in my shirt.

Pie’s eyes connected with mine. I lightly

shook my head and frowned.

It wasn’t fucking good.
Bunny was gone, and we had been right in the

middle of the crime scene.

We weren’t going anywhere for a while.

Chapter Six

Reva

A knock sounded on the door, and my hand

froze mid-air with a half-eaten taco in it.

It was seven-thirty, and no one should be

knocking on my door.

Mom and Dad never came without letting me

know, and I really didn’t have many friends. At
least, not ones who would drop by without a call
first.

Another knock came.
I dropped the taco on my plate and set it on

the coffee table. I slowly stood, side-stepped to the
wall, and crept along it ‘til I was at the front door.
There wasn’t any way the person at the door could
see me, but I was still sneaking around like the
boogie man was out there.

“Reva,” the person called. The voice was male

and familiar. Too familiar. “Sunshine.”

I sagged against the wall and took a deep

breath. It was only Hero. But what in the hell was
he doing here? He had told me earlier that he would
see me later and made it sound like later would be
while I was still working. I had been a little
disappointed when five o’clock had rolled around
and Hero hadn’t come back over. Tim had finished

up installing the new door around four-thirty and
had puttered around ‘til I closed. I moved in front
of the door and reached up on my tiptoes to look
out the peephole.

Yup, there was Hero standing there in all his

handsome glory. “What do you want?” I sounded
like one of the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz
with my face squished up against the door.

“Let me in, Sunshine,” he called. His voice

sounded tired, and there was a heaviness to it.

“Are you okay?” I still had my face pressed up

against the door and sounded ridiculous.

“How about you open the door and we can

talk face to face.” He tried to chuckle but it was
flat and emotionless.

“Why?”
“Reva,” he sighed.
I grunted and pushed away from the door. I

guess it did make sense to talk without a door
between us. I pulled it open and propped one hand
on my hip. “You don’t sound good.”

He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

“I’m doing better than at least one person tonight.”

Just what did that mean? He seemed tired, and

his usual air of confidence was gone. “What
happened?”

“You think I could come in and not stand on

your doorstep?”

I pushed open the door all of the way and

motioned for him to come in. His demeanor had
piqued my curiosity. “Come on in. I was just sitting
down to dinner.”

He walked through the doorway and brushed

against me. “Dinner sounds good.”

I hadn’t exactly offered him dinner, but I had

made plenty. “Um, why don’t you sit at the counter
and I’ll make you a plate.” I nodded to the kitchen,
and he headed that way.

I ducked into the living room and grabbed my

plate and muted the TV. I didn’t need a rerun of
90210 playing in the background while I tried to
concentrate on what the hell had happened to Hero.

“Nice place, Sunshine.” Hero sat on one of the

stools at the raised counter.

I walked to the other side into the kitchen

and set my plate down. “Thanks. I'm pretty fond of
it.” I moved to the fridge. “Did you want something
to drink?” I didn’t know how Hero had come to be
in my house and sitting in my kitchen, but I figured
I should offer him a beverage.

“Beer?”
I nodded. “You are in luck. I happen to have

your plain old beer and a couple of the girly ones.”

“Girly ones?” he laughed.
I opened the fridge and grabbed my rather

large selection of beer. It was a lot for one person,
but after all, I did live in the land of beer and
cheese. “I think this one is appley, this one has a bit

of a lemon flavor.” I held up one with a badger on
it. “I picked up this one at the gas station the other
day. You can’t go wrong with a grumpy looking
badger, right?”

Hero chuckled, and it didn’t sound as flat or

forced as it had before. “I’ll go for the grumpy
badger.”

“Excellent choice, though I don’t know what

it tastes like.” I set the beer in front of him and left
one of the lemony ones out for me. Then I pushed
the others back in the fridge and turned to the stove
where I had left all the fixings for the tacos. “I hope
tacos are okay.” I glanced over my shoulder at
Hero and watched him take a long drink of his beer.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Tacos are always okay in my world, Sunshine.”

Well, I had to agree with him. “Well, good.” I

would have found something else for him to eat if
he had told me he hated tacos, but then I also
would have contemplated kicking him out because
only psychos didn’t like tacos in some way, shape,
or form.

He quietly drank his beer while I made a plate

and set it in front of him. He grabbed my plate and
slid it in front of the empty stool next to him. “Sit
with me, Sunshine.”

The man really needed to stop calling me that.

Mostly because whenever he said it, I would do
whatever he wanted me to. I grabbed my beer and

sat down on the stool next to him. “Hi,” I mumbled.

He chuckled and leaned back. “Hi, Sunshine.”

He took a pull from his beer and looked at the
label. “Grumpy badger beer isn’t half bad.”

I grabbed a stray piece of shredded cheese and

popped it in my mouth. “Good to know.”

“Sorry I didn’t drop back into the shop. Some

stuff came up with the club, and then, I was busy
the rest of the day.”

I shrugged as if I hadn’t minded that he didn’t

come back over. “It’s okay. I was pretty busy
today.” I had been. Sort of.

“You catch the news tonight?”
I tipped my head to the side. That was kind of

an odd question. “Uh, no. I tend not to watch the
news lately. Too much bad in the world.”

“That’s life,” Hero replied grimly.
“I suppose,” I agreed. “Though, I guess I don’t

want to hear about it all of the time. I know what’s
going on in the world but I try not to focus on the
negative.”

Hero nodded and took another drink.
“What’s wrong, Hero?” I asked. “Did

something happen today?” I didn’t know if he
would actually tell me, but it seemed like he wanted
to. I was done beating around the bush with small
talk and odd questions.

He picked at the label on his beer and peeled

off a section of it. “Got a call from one of the guys

this morning. One of the girls who works at the club
hadn’t been in for the past two days. Luna was
worried about her and wanted to run out to her
house and make sure she was okay.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” I had no idea

who Luna was, but I would have wanted to do the
same thing.

Hero nodded. “Yeah, it was. I headed out with

two other guys from the club and Luna. We got to
her trailer, and no one answered the door. All of the
doors were unlocked, and the power was cut on the
place.”

Uh oh. Uh. Oh.
Now I wished I had watched the news because

I had an uneasy feeling that what Hero was about
to tell me made it on the broadcast.

He finished peeling the label off the bottle and

tossed it on the counter. “She was dead.” He tipped
the beer to his lips and drained the rest of it in a
few swallows. He set it on the counter and sighed.

“Oh, my God, Hero. I’m so sorry.” I couldn’t

even imagine what it would be like to find someone
who was dead.

He shook his head. “I didn’t even know her,

Sunshine. Don’t feel sorry for me. Feel sorry for
Luna who was worried about her.”

I looked down at my food. I wasn’t hungry

anymore. “What was her name?”

“She went by Bunny, but her real name was

Shannon Waters.” He stood, walked over to the
fridge, and grabbed another beer. “It was bad,
Reva. Whoever hurt her was fucking brutal.”

Chills ran through my body. “Do they know

who did it?”

Hero shook his head. “No fucking clue. They,

of course, questioned us up and down since we
found her, but they know we didn’t hurt her. We all
have fucking alibis and no reason to kill her.”

I rubbed my hands up and down my arms. A

woman had been brutally murdered, and they
didn’t know who had done it. There was a murderer
somewhere in our small town. “So what are they
doing?”

Hero sat back down next to me. “They spent

all day talking to us. When they finally realized we
had nothing to do with her murder, they talked
mostly to Luna and the rest of the girls at the club.
Luna swears up and down she has no idea who
would have wanted to kill Bunny. I guess she was
seeing a couple of guys but none of them were
serious.”

“Jesus, Hero. That is crazy.” Things like that

never happened in Rockton. We were a small town
that didn’t really have many things happen that
were newsworthy. “There's a murderer somewhere
out there.”

Hero opened his beer. “Yeah, Sunshine. Shit is

fucking crazy out there.”

“Do you think…” I didn’t want to say it out

loud. I didn’t want to know if he thought whoever
who had killed Bunny was going to kill again.

Hero read my mind. “I don’t know. It seems

like whoever killed her knew her, but the problem
is they don’t know who it was.” He finally picked
up one of his tacos and took a bite. “Haven’t eaten
all fucking day,” he mumbled. He chowed down the
three tacos I had made him and finished his second
beer. “Got any more?”

I grabbed his empty plate and made two more

for him. I still had one and a half on my plate that I
hadn’t touched since he walked in the door.

“You gotta eat, Sunshine.” He nodded to my

plate.

He was right, but I wasn’t hungry. I managed

to eat half of the taco, and it just tasted like
sawdust going down. I drank my beer slowly while
Hero finished his fourth and fifth tacos.

“You wanna watch a movie?” I asked when he

finished.

“You’re not trying to push me out the door?”
I shrugged and grabbed his empty plate.

“Should I?”

“I’d rather you not.”
I laughed and dropped the plates into the sink.

“You can pick a movie out while I clean this up.”

“Another beer?” he asked.
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “If you

drink another one, I’m not going to let you leave
until you sober up.”

“That a promise?” he chuckled.
“Try me,” I dared. I wasn’t going to let Hero

take off on his motorcycle after drinking three
beers. He would have to walk home or sleep it off
on the couch. I’m sure he was capable of driving,
but I heard too often about drunk driving and
accidents. I didn’t want to be partially responsible
if something were to happen to Hero.

He opened the fridge and grabbed two more

beers. “I’ll get the movie fired up.” He sauntered
toward the living room and popped the top on one
of the beers.

Well, I guess that settled that.
I put away the leftover tacos and fixings and

turned on the dishwasher.

Hero was sitting in the middle of the couch

with his feet kicked up on the coffee table. “You
got shit taste in movies, Sunshine.”

I sat down next to him, careful not to actually

touch him, and sighed. I’m sure I did according to
his standards. I loved a good love story drama or a
good documentary. On opposite ends of the
spectrum, but it was what I liked.

“I like what I like.” I didn’t know what else

to tell him. It wasn’t the first time I had been told I
had shitty taste in movies. “Put on Netflix.” I
grabbed a different remote from the end table, hit

the Netflix button, and handed it to him. “I’m sure
there are plenty of beat ‘em up and smash ‘em
movies on there.”

He grunted and grabbed the remote. “Thank

God,” he muttered under his breath.

The man who had been on my mind far too

much seemed more relaxed. Not so wound up like
he had been when I had first opened the front door.
It was so easy to read Hero. He may play some
things close to his chest, but it was always clear
what kind of mood he was in.

He settled on some action movie that wasn’t

going to hold my attention, but I figured he had a
pretty stressful day and I could sit through a movie
I wasn’t a fan of. He reached across the couch,
turned off the light, and settled back next to me,
this time closer than he had been before. Our
shoulders touched, and I tried to fight the urge to
lean into him.

Fifteen minutes into the movie, my eyes were

becoming heavy and my resolve to not cuddle into
him was almost gone.

“I have to confess,” I said through a yawn.

“I’m pretty tired.”

“No shit,” Hero laughed. He looped his arm

around my shoulders and pressed me into his side.
“Sleep, Sunshine.”

It was too appealing of an invitation to turn

down. I stifled another yawn and settled into him.

We were like two pieces of a puzzle that aligned
perfectly.

My eyes finally fluttered closed, and I

completely stopped fighting sleep.

Hero had snuggled me next to him, so

obviously he was okay with me falling asleep
cuddled under his arm.

Who was I to argue with what he wanted?
I fell asleep to the sounds of a car chase on the

TV and slept like a baby tucked into Hero. Not how
I expected my night to end, but I wasn’t going to
complain about that at all.

Hero

I gathered her to my side, laid down fully on

the couch, and cradled her in front of me.

It had been a shit day, but this was the only

ending I was willing to accept. I had only come
over to tell Reva I was sorry about not showing up
this afternoon, but as soon as I had seen her, I had
wanted to be next to her and tell her everything
that had happened.

She cuddled into me and sighed in her sleep.
Yeah. Today was shitty, but ending a shitty day

with Reva in my arms was all I needed to make it
better.

The movie played, but I stopped watching it.

Watching Reva peacefully sleep was more

entertaining.

I fell asleep, my breathing matching hers, and

slept like a damn baby.

Chapter Seven

Reva

The bacon sizzled in the pan, and I sipped my

coffee.

See, this was normal.
Totally normal.
I did this at least two times a week.
I set my coffee down and grabbed a fork.
“Morning.”
I closed my eyes. That was not part of my

normal. Crawling out from under Hero’s arms was
not normal. It had felt nice waking up with his
warm body pressed against mine, but have I
mentioned that it was not normal?

I opened my eyes and looked over my

shoulder. “Uh, hey?”

Hero stood there, his shirt rumbled, his hair

disheveled, and a sexy smirk on his lips. “Coffee?”

I nodded to the coffee pot. “Cups are in the

cabinet above.” I turned back to my bacon and
tried to tell myself this was all normal.

“You sleep okay?” he asked.
I felt him moving around the kitchen, but I

didn’t turn away from the stove. “Uh, yeah?”

“Even early in the morning, you’ve got that

cute awkward shit going on.” He filled his cup with

coffee and then he was next to me. He leaned
against the counter, his body facing me, and sipped
from his cup.

“Mmhmm.” If only I could stop the

awkward and throw a little sass his way. Hell, I’d
like to just sound a little intelligent.

“What’s going on in your mind, Sunshine?” he

asked.

Good Lord, there was a lot going on in there.

The biggest thing rattling around in my head was
wanting to know just what in the hell was
happening. I didn’t think even Hero knew. “Not a
whole lot.” I grabbed the plate I had draped a
couple of paper towels on and started laying the
fried bacon on it. “Hungry?”

I wasn’t making anything fancy. Bacon

sandwiches were a morning favorite of mine. I
guess I just liked B Sandwiches without the LT.

He looked down at the plate of bacon. “You

got some eggs to go with that?”

I shook my head. “Nope.” I moved to the

fridge and pulled out the jar of mayo. “Got some of
this,” I held up the mayo, “and bread.”

Hero quirked his eyebrow. “I’m gonna trust

you on this one, Sunshine.”

“Does that mean you want one?”
He nodded. “Fire one up for me.”
I laughed and set the mayo next to the bacon.

“Well, it’s not exactly gourmet, but it’ll fill ya up.”

“Can’t ask for much more than that.” Hero

laughed.

I popped two slices of bread into the toaster

and grabbed a butter knife from the drawer. “So,” I
drawled, “what happens today?”

I had about a minute until I could slather the

toast with mayo. Might as well fill the void with
some awkward conversation.

“Not a fucking clue. I plan to go check on

Luna later, make sure she’s okay. I’m assuming the
news broke to everyone who works at Sultry
Knights so it would probably be best for me to
make an appearance to make sure things are okay
there.”

I nodded. “Sounds like a full day.”
He shrugged. “Sounds like a fucking draining

day.”

“I can’t remember if you said. Did you know

her? Bunny?”

Hero shook his head. “Can’t say that I did.

I’m sure I had seen her before since she worked at
the strip club, but I couldn’t pick her out of a line
up if I had to. I don’t hang out at Sultry Knights too
much.”

The toast popped up, and I swapped it out

with two other pieces then grabbed a plate. I found
it hard to believe that a guy like Hero didn’t hang
out at Sultry Knights. Whenever I went by Sultry
Knights, the parking lot was always packed. “You

don’t go to the strip club?”

Yeah, the question popped out. At this

point, I wasn’t surprised at my lack of filter. Might
as well just roll with it. Might help me get answers
to the questions that were swirling around my mind.

Hero chuckled. “I’m not there every day,

Sunshine.”

“Every other day?” I quipped.
He shook his head and smirked. “Awkward

and sassy.”

I worked on slathering both pieces of bread

with mayo and then made an intricate blanket on
one of the pieces. I slapped the other piece on,
mayo side down, and handed it to him. “Eat up. I
gotta work in forty-five minutes.”

Hero took the sandwich and chomped into it

with a huge bite. I built my sandwich, twisted the
lid back on the mayo, put it in the fridge, and
turned back to see Hero had already finished his
sandwich.

“Holy hell, man. Did you inhale that?”
Hero drained his coffee cup and moved to the

pot for a refill. “I was hungry.”

Obviously. “Do you want another one?”
He shook his head. “No, Sunshine. I’m good.

Just need about two more cups of coffee and I’ll be
good for the day.” He filled his cup and turned to
lean on the counter. “That was good, though.”

Well, that was nice to hear. “Thank you.”

He looked me up and down. “You ready for

work?”

I glanced down at my faded jeans and orange

shirt. The word Sunkist was sprawled across my
chest. I was a junkie for vintage shirts. “Yes.”

I grabbed my sandwich and took a big bite.

I didn’t know if that was a loaded question or not. I
had darted to my room when I had woken up
before Hero and gotten ready. I wouldn’t have won
any beauty contests, but at least I looked
presentable.

He nodded but didn’t say anything. He asked

me if I was ready for work as if I didn’t look like I
was ready. What exactly did he expect me to wear
to wash and groom dogs all day.

“Are you ready for work?” I countered.
Hero choked on his coffee. He swiped his

mouth with the back of his hand. “You keep me on
my toes, Sunshine.” He wiped his hand on his jeans.
“I’m about ready as I can be.”

Even sleeping in his clothes, Hero still looked

good. If I would have worn the clothes I had slept
in all night, I would have looked like a wrinkled
mess.

I ate three more bites of my sandwich while he

finished his coffee. He set his cup in the sink and
stepped toward me. “I’m gonna run, Sunshine.”

Oh. Okay. I swallowed the bite I had just taken

and set my sandwich down. “Okay?” Why did I

always sound like I was so unsure of myself when
he told me something. Lord.

He took another step toward me. He was an

arm’s length away. Wanna know how I knew that?

Because he reached out and laid his hand on

my waist. The heat of his palm burned through the
thin material of my shirt. “I don’t know if I’ll have
time to stop by the shop today.”

I didn’t think he would, but I was still a little

disappointed. “No worries. It’s not like Barbara will
be there waiting for you or anything.”

He laughed and shook his head. “As much as I

think Barbara is a good girl, I don’t come there for
her.” He leaned into me, and his other hand
wrapped around my waist. He pulled me close, until
my lips were a breath away from his. “You good if I
kiss you?”

Whew, Lord! His words sent goosebumps up

my arms, and my heart fluttered. “Uh, are we doing
that? Kissing, I mean?” I still didn’t get what we
were doing. I mean, if he wanted to kiss, then who I
was to tell him no?

“Only if you’re down with it, Sunshine. I need

a green light from you right now.”

I blinked twice. Hero was taking the lead, but I

was still in control. I could tell him to leave right
now and he would. “Just what are we doing here,
Hero?” I whispered.

He smiled.

Sweet Jesus. I thought his smile was lethal

before when he was across the room. Up close and
personal was out of this world.

“We really gotta give it a name?”

I bit my lip. Did we? No. But I wanted to sort

of get a feeling of what was happening. “No,
but…” Gah. I didn’t know how to get the words out
of my mouth without sounding like some clingy
woman. We had only known each other for a few
days. It wasn’t like I wanted his vow of undying
love, but maybe a couple words like “I dig you”
would be acceptable?

“How about we just ride the wave and see

what happens, yeah?”

“And the wave has kissing?” Filter, Reva.

Could I please just use my filter?

Hero chuckled. “Yeah. I hope it has a shit-ton

of kissing.”

“Ditto.” I blurted out. “You know, I tend to

not think when you’re around. Especially when
you’re this close.”

He tucked a stray hair behind my ear. “Maybe

that’s a good thing.”

In an instant, he closed the gap between us

and pressed his lips to mine. I melted into his touch
and savored the taste of his lips. They were soft and
supple yet demanding and strong. My hands
pressed against his chest and moved up. They
wrapped around his neck, and I just held on. I

couldn’t remember any other kiss but his.

It had started off slow and gentle.

His hands roamed over my back and

bunched up my shirt. His fingers touched the bare
flesh of my back, and I thought I had melted into
his touch before, but now I was basically a puddle
on the floor.

It was hot.

It was needy.

It was everything and more.
I finally ran out of breath and ripped my lips

from his.

“God damn, Sunshine.” His voice was raw

and gravelly. “You expect me to leave after that?”

I stared at his lips and couldn’t string two

words together.

He stepped back, out of my reach. “I’ll call

you later, Sunshine.”

“I, uh.” I shook my head and tried to come

back to Earth. “Okay?”

Hero laughed. He stepped back toward me,

laid a quick kiss on my cheek, and then he was out
the door.

I leaned back against the counter and

listened to his motorcycle roar to life. Clutching my
hand to my chest, I tried to calm the racing of my
heart.

I didn’t know what in the hell was going on

with Hero and me, but I knew for damn sure that

was not going to be the last time he kissed me.

Chapter Eight

Hero

“Look who’s strutting in doing the walk of

shame.”

I pushed my sunglasses on top of my head.

“You sound like a teenage girl.”

Easy flipped me off. “And you look like shit.”
“Church in half an hour,” I called.
“Zig and Zag aren’t here. You want me to give

them a call?” Frost asked.

“Where the hell are they?” I demanded.
Frost shrugged. “Last I heard, they were

heading to Sultry Knights last night to help console
the girls about Bunny.”

I scoffed. Of fucking course. “Find out where

they are and tell them to get their asses here.”

“Something wrong?” Snapper asked. He was

sitting in front of the large TV flipping through the
channels.

“You’ll find out when you get your ass to

church.” I headed down the hallway toward my
room. I pulled my keys out, unlocked the door, and
closed it behind me. Then I walked straight to the
small bathroom, turned on the hot water, stripped
out of my clothes, and stepped into the scorching
hot water.

I had a fucking hard-on the whole ride back to

the clubhouse, and it wasn’t going down.

One damn kiss from Reva and I was a fucking

hormonal teenager ready to go off like a damn
rocket.

I braced my hand on the wall in front of me,

the water cascading over my head, and gripped my
dick in my hand. My eyes drifted closed. Reva’s
sweet face flashed in my mind, and I stroked my
cock.

I pictured her slowly falling to her knees and

her sweet mouth wrapping around my dick. I
moaned low and sped up the pace of my hand. The
thought of her tongue gliding over the tip of my
dick, licking a drop of cum, spurred me on. My
hand pumped up and down faster ‘til I emptied a
huge load of cum on the floor of the shower.

I panted heavily and opened my eyes.
One goddamn kiss and she had me stroking my

dick like a thirteen-year-old reading his first
Playboy.

Fucking shit.

Reva

I walked into my bedroom and stopped dead

in my tracks.

The closet door was partially open, and one of

my sweatshirts was lying on the floor.

I didn’t remember dropping that before.

Though, I had been a bumbling fool trying to wrap
my head around Hero staying the night when I got
dressed. I grabbed the sweatshirt off the floor,
opened the closet, and hung it back up. After I
closed the door, I pushed it extra hard to make sure
it stayed shut. “Stay.”

Something felt off, but I didn’t know what it

was.

After Hero left, I managed to get a grip and

finish my coffee and bacon sandwich. Then I had
checked the forecast and saw it was supposed to
rain later today and figured I should bring my
raincoat along in case it rained when I had to take
the dogs out to use the bathroom.

I grabbed my rain jacket off the back of my

bedroom door and turned around to look at the
room again. An eerie feeling washed over me. It
felt like someone had been in here, but that wasn’t
possible.

When I had changed earlier, I hadn’t gotten

that feeling, and there was no way someone had
been in my bedroom when Hero and I were in the
kitchen.

I shook it off and closed the door behind me.

Then I snagged my purse off the counter and my
travel mug of coffee. Maybe I needed to lay off the
true crime podcasts I listened to while working.
They were going to my head and making me

paranoid.

Harry was sitting on his porch again, and he

shyly waved to me.

“Morning, Harry,” I called. It had been a

really good morning beside the eerie feeling, and I
felt like I had a little pep in my step.

“Morning,” he replied.
I hopped into my car and noticed a huge smile

on my face when I glanced in the rear view mirror.
Hero had put that there, and I didn’t think I would
be losing it anytime soon.

I still didn’t really know what was going on

between us, but it seemed like whatever it was,
there was going to be a lot of kissing.

I couldn’t really argue with that.

Chapter Nine

Hero

“No, Luna.”
She rolled her eyes, grabbed a chair from the

wall, and plopped it down right next to me. “You
really think I’m not going to be here for this?” She
dropped down in the chair and folded her arms over
her chest. “Proceed.”

This was the first official meeting where I was

sitting in King’s seat.

Luna decided she was going to be a part of it.

Right fucking next to me.

“Luna, come on,” Pie hissed. “What in the

hell do you think you are doing?” he demanded.

She glared at Pie and raised her middle finger

at him. “I’m gonna sit here and listen to what you
dumbasses are going to do about Bunny.”

I laid my hands on the table in front of me.

“There isn’t a whole hell of a lot we can do, Luna.
It’s in the hands of the police now.”

Luna scoffed. “You’re telling me there isn’t

going to be some Devil’s Knights revenge being
served up?”

I tapped my fingers on the table. “That’s club

business, Luna. You know that.”

“I’ve heard that BS my whole life, Hero, and

that’s exactly what it is. Bull. Shit.”

“Luna,” I growled. I could only patronize her

for so long. She shouldn’t have even been in here in
the first place. To then demand to know what we
were doing was crossing the line.

“You really think King would sit where you

are and do nothing? You’re already fucking up,
Hero,” she snarled.

I slammed my fist down on the table. “Talk to

me like that one more fucking time, Luna, and find
out what happens,” I thundered.

The guys around the table glared at Luna. She

may have been Pie’s sister, but she didn’t have the
right to barge in here and talk down to me.

“Knock it off now, Luna,” Pie echoed. “You

can’t pull this shit just because King isn’t here.
Hero is in charge, and you listen to him just like
you do King.”

Luna growled under her breath, but she didn’t

say anything more. She knew she was crossing the
line. I got that she was upset and wanted to make
sure whoever killed Bunny was found, but being a
raging brat wasn’t going to get her very far. “I’m
sorry,” she muttered.

“You’re not part of the club, Luna. You can’t

be in here.”

Luna scoffed. “Bullshit. My dad has been in

more meetings than you can count and don’t even
get me started on Uncle Leo being in meetings.”

Luna and Pie’s dad was Troy who happened to

be King’s ol’ lady’s best friend. Their mom, Marley,
also happened to be the daughter of one of the
oldest members of the club, Gravel. Gravel was
also married to Ethel, who was King’s mom. To say
that shit got a bit confusing was an understatement.

“Shut. Up.” Pie was at his wits end with Luna.

A vein in his neck throbbed, and his face was
turning red. “I told you this wasn’t a good fucking
idea, and yet, here you are raising cane.”

“You know the only reason it wasn’t a good

idea for me to come in here was because I don’t
have a dick hanging between my legs.” Luna
jumped up, and her chair skidded into the wall.
“Bunny is dead, and all you assholes care about is
beating your chests like fucking King Kong.”

I cared about Bunny. We all fucking did.

Luna’s emotions were bubbling over, and she was
ready to blow.

“Sit down, Luna,” I asked quietly.

She panted heavily, ready to yell at us again. I

was done with the yelling.

“If you want us to talk to you, then I’m gonna

need you to show us some respect and we’ll do the
same.” I reached behind me, grabbed her chair, and
slid it back next to me. “Sit.”

She sat and folded her arms over her chest.
Everyone settled back down, and I relaxed

into my chair. Shit was crazy right now, and we all

needed to just take a damn breath.

“We can’t go around demanding answers like

we’re the cops,” I started. “We do that and we’re
just going to end up on the cop’s radar even more
than we have.”

“I say we talk to the girls at the club. See if

they might know who would have hurt Bunny,” Pie
suggested.

I glanced at Luna. “I’m sure you’ve already

started doing that.”

Luna shrugged. “Maybe, but I only talked to a

couple of girls last night. Most of them were so
upset that they couldn't really get a coherent
sentence out. Everyone really liked Bunny. As far
as I knew, she didn’t really have any beef with the
rest of the girls.”

“Was she seeing anyone seriously?” Frost

asked.

Luna raised one side of her mouth. “I mean,

she was dating, but she wasn’t seeing just one guy.”

That might prove to be a little harder. If she

would have been seeing one guy, we could have
talked to him. Now we were going to have to deal
with a few guys. “You got names for them?” Pie
asked.

“I’ll have to talk to the girls she normally

worked with. She was friendly with me, but I could
tell that she always held back a little bit because I
was her boss.”

“Let’s just do this all on the down low like I

said. I doubt any of the girls would go running to
the cops if we start asking questions, but we don’t
need to be broadcasting that we’re trying to get our
own answers.” I sighed and rapped my knuckles on
the table. “The sooner we figure out who killed
Bunny, the sooner we can lay this all to rest.”

“You think it was someone she knew?” Easy

asked. “Maybe it was just some random shit. Like
the psycho walked past Bunny’s place and decided
to kill her on a whim.”

I shook my head. My eyes connected with

Frost. “Whoever killed Bunny knew her and
wanted her to suffer for something.”

Frost nodded. “That’s the damn truth. They

were definitely sending a message.”

A message we couldn’t decipher. “We’ll all

head to the club later, and we can divide and
conquer with talking to everyone.”

Luna’s phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of

her pocket. “Hello?” She held the phone to her ear
and pursed her lips as she listened. “Are you sure?”
she asked. She listened more and frowned. “I
understand, Tanya.” She ended the call and sighed.

“What was that?” I asked her.
“One of my waitresses called in. Said she was

too torn up from Bunny and needed the night off.”
Luna tipped her head back and groaned. “Now I’m
short staffed.”

“Looks like you’re gonna have to wait some

tables tonight, sis,” Pie laughed.

Before Luna had become the manager of the

club, she had been a waitress. She had been damn
good at it, but now that she was the boss, she hated
having to do anything but stand behind the bar and
sling a couple of drinks when they needed it.

“Maybe that’ll be good. Put you out on the

floor so you can talk to the girls and not have it
seem like you’re interrogating them,” I suggested.

“Does that mean all of you are going to be out

on the floor getting your ass grabbed by horny
assholes?” Luna grumbled.

“Uh, no,” Easy laughed. “I’m gonna grab a

table, order a beer, and chat up whatever waitress I
get.”

Frost pointed his finger at Easy. “And that is a

fucking brilliant idea.”

Luna groaned and stood. “I’m gonna run

home for a bit and then head out to the club.”

“You good?” Pie asked her. They may argue

and flip each other off an exorbitant amount of
times, but in the end, Pie and Luna always had
each other's backs.

Luna nodded. “I’m just gonna grab a nap.

Tanya was scheduled for the late shift tonight, and I
slept like shit last night.”

She walked out of church in much less

dramatic fashion than her entrance earlier. We all

got that Luna was frustrated and concerned, but
she needed to just chill for a second ‘til we figured
out what was happening.

“We’re really starting at square one, aren’t

we?” Frost sighed.

I grabbed the gavel and held it. I had been

wanting this for years. The weight of the wood in
my hand and responsibility that went with it.

Now that I had it, I wondered if I was going to

be able to do the job as well as King had done over
all the years.

“What’d we miss?”
Zig and Zag stood in the doorway looking like

they had been ridden hard and put away wet.

“Look what the fucking dog dragged in,” Easy

hooted.

“How did comforting the girls go last night?”

Frost asked.

They both stumbled into church and sat down

in their chairs.

“You wouldn’t even believe it if I told you.”

Zag shook his head. “I don’t know how it
happened, but I somehow ended up in the
backroom with Tanya, Shelly, and Bey.”

Zig snickered. “I would have had Bey if you

hadn't grabbed her before she made it to the
bathroom.”

I slammed down the gavel and stood. “You

assholes have fun telling fish stories and while

you’re at it, have Frost fill you in on church.”

Frost nodded to me.
I had a couple of phone calls to make and

didn’t want to be sucked into hearing about Zig and
Zag’s escapades. There was a definite reason why
they had gotten their road names. The way they
zigged and zagged through women was sometimes
more than a guy needed to hear about.

The guys could have a little fun right now, but

come tonight, we were going to get down to
business and try to figure out who the hell had
killed Bunny.

Reva

“Hair of the Dog. Reva speaking.”
“Sunshine.”
A thrill coursed through me at the sound of

Hero’s voice. “I wondered how you were going to
call me when you didn’t have my phone number.”
After I had gotten out of the fog of Hero’s kiss, I
realized he couldn’t call me later since he didn’t
have my cell number. I hadn’t thought he would
call the shop.

“I meant to get your number this morning

before I left but…”

“Yeah, same,” I laughed. It was nice to know I

wasn’t the only one who had been wowed by our
kiss this morning.

Hero’s low chuckle rumbled through the

phone.

It was half past four, and I was just finishing

up the last dog for the day. One of my clients had to
reschedule at the last minute so I was actually going
to finish early today.

“You got plans tonight?” he asked.
I ran my fingers through my hair and tried not

to squeal like a schoolgirl. “Um, no, not really.”

“I was thinking of coming over tonight but

some stuff came up with the club.”

My heart sank. “Oh, I get it. I know how it

goes.” I didn’t really, but it sounded good.

“You wanna come with me?”
“Uh, with you?” I replied slowly. I was

allowed to be there with club thingies?

Hero hummed. “Well, I don’t see why not.

Pretty sure they let anyone in as long as you pay
your cover.”

Now he really had my interest piqued.

“Cover?”

“Well, if you’re with me, you won’t have to

pay a cover.”

What in the world was he talking about?
“You ever been to Sultry Knights, Sunshine?”

Chapter Ten

Reva

It was official. I had absolutely no clothes that

were suitable to wear to a strip club.

At least, I didn’t think I did.
Hero had told me to just wear what I normally

did, but I didn’t think a vintage shirt and jeans were
really going to cut it.

I grabbed my black skinny jeans off the floor

and tossed them on the bed. Whatever I wore, I
knew those were going to be on my legs. They
made my ass look good, and they were high-
waisted so they sucked in my pooch.

In exactly eleven minutes, Hero would knock

on my door, and I was standing in front of my
closet in my matching black lace bra and panties. I
had sexy bras and underwear because I had an
addiction to the silky, lacy, see-through garments.
Plus, it gave me an extra boost of confidence to
wear the sexy little things under my drab and
boring clothes.

This would have been the moment I called my

best friend to have her come over to help me find a
killer outfit.

Problem was, I didn’t have a best friend.
Hell, I didn’t even have any friends. Let alone

a best one.

Through high school, I had a small core group

of friends, but I was always the outsider, just on the
fringes. I just never really met anyone I gelled well
with. I had acquaintances, but not one I could call
an actual friend.

I grabbed a cropped, black sweatshirt that had

see-through lace sleeves and pulled it over my
head. Then I shimmied into the black jeans and
stood in front of the tall mirror I had leaning against
the wall. The hem of the sweatshirt didn’t cover my
waist completely. I tugged at it and wished it were
two inches longer, but then I guess it wouldn’t be
cropped. My spur of the moment late night online
purchase was going to have to be good enough for a
night at the strip club with Hero.

Those were plans I never thought I would

have.

I reached up to tuck my hair behind my ear

and the hem of the shirt lifted to almost my bra. I
slammed my arm down to my side and sighed.
Walking around with my arms glued to my sides
was going to be fun.

A knock sounded on the front door. I gave

myself one last look in the mirror. I didn’t look
amazing, but I also didn’t look like I was headed to
work. It was an improvement over what I normally
wore, but it wasn’t great.

I glanced in the peephole and unlocked the

door when I saw it was Hero.

“Hello, Sunshine,” Hero drawled. He leaned

against the doorframe with his arms folded over his
chest. His usual sunglasses covered his eyes, and he
was in his standard attire of ripped jeans,
motorcycle boots, tight shirt, and leather vest.
Obviously, Hero didn’t stress about what to wear
tonight.

“Hola.” Just once. All I wanted was one time

where I didn’t sound like an idiot.

Hero chuckled. “You ready?”
I looked down at my bare feet. “Uh, not quite.

Wanna come in while I find shoes?” Ugh, shoes. I
had no idea what I was going to wear. My outfit
was slightly on the sexy side, but also a bit sporty
since I was wearing a hoodie. I stepped to the side
and tried not to freak out.

Hero stepped inside and laid his hand on my

waist. “You good, Sunshine? You went a little pale
when you mentioned shoes.”

It would be great if Hero would stop reading

me so accurately. Might as well be honest. “I have
no idea what shoes to wear.” I looked out the door
at his bike. “And I just realized we’re probably
going on your bike and I’ve never been on a bike
before.”

Hero pulled me to his chest, closed the door,

and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Breathe, Sunshine.”

My gaze connected with his, and I drew in a

deep breath. “I guess you kind of take my breath
away.”

Hero reached up and brushed a strand of hair

behind my ear. “Pretty sure I was supposed to say
that when you opened the door.” He pushed
another kiss to my lips. He may not have told me I
took his breath away, but his kiss made up for it
tenfold.

I sighed into his touch and gripped the lapels

of his vest.

“Let’s get you some shoes, Sunshine,” he

whispered against my lips.

He grabbed my hand and motioned for me to

go ahead of him.

“Oh, uh. I guess you don’t really know where

to go,” I giggled nervously. I was about to lead
Hero right into my bedroom in search of a pair of
shoes.

“Your neighbor isn’t the friendliest,” Hero

commented.

I glanced over my shoulder. “Harry?”
“That his name? He basically growled at me

when I said hi.”

I laughed and stepped into the bedroom.

“Harry is pretty quiet. I think he’s only said a few
words to me the whole time he’s lived there.”

Hero let go of my hand and sat down on the

edge of the bed. “Guy seems off, Reva.”

I scowled and crouched down in front of the

sparse row of shoes in the bottom of my closet. “I
think you’re overreacting a little, Hero. Harry is
harmless.” I grabbed a pair of sandals and held
them up. “These?”

“You just told me you barely talked to the guy.

I don’t think you can really tell me he is harmless.”

I waved the sandal again.
“No. Something close-toed if we’re on the

bike.”

I dropped the sandal. That seriously narrowed

down my choices. I was left with a pair of chucks,
black leather booties, and my work tennis shoes.
“Can we take my car?”

Hero chuckled. I was really starting to like

that. “We’re not taking the cage, Sunshine. You’re
on my bike. No girly shoes.”

I scoffed and grabbed the leather boots. “Well,

I am a girl, Hero.”

“Trust me, I’ve noticed.”
I sat back on my butt and pulled on the boots.
“You got a light jacket to wear?”
I managed to get both boots on and stood.

“I’m wearing a sweatshirt, Hero, and it’s warm
out.”

“Trust me. Grab a coat. It gets cold on the

bike at night.”

I rolled my eyes but turned back to the closet.

I had stuffed away my coats in bins on the top shelf
of the closet since it was almost summer. I flicked

on the light and looked up. “What the hell?”

Why was the access panel to the crawl space

cracked open?

“Huh?” Hero moved next to me and looked

up. “Been in the attic lately?” he asked.

I had never been up there. “Uh, it’s not really

an attic. It’s sort of just a crawl space.”

Hero stepped into the closet and got under the

open hole in the ceiling. “Does this run the whole
length of the building or just your unit?”

“Just mine.”
Hero pulled out his phone, turned on the

flashlight, and pointed it up into the crawl space.
“You sure about that?”

“Yeah. When I first looked at the place, they

offered to let me go up there to check it out. I stuck
my head up in the hole, and there was a wall where
the next unit starts.” I didn’t need to crawl around
up there. It looked good to me.

Hero turned off his flashlight and tucked his

phone back in his pocket. “Maybe the latch got
jiggled loose over time.” He reached up and swung
the square door closed. He hooked the latch and
stepped back. “Let me know if it opens again.”

I nodded.
“Sunshine,” he called.
I blinked twice and looked at him. “Huh?”
“What are you thinking about?”
I thought back to yesterday when I had the

eerie feeling someone was watching me in the
bedroom. It didn’t make sense, though. The crawl
space went nowhere. “Uh, trying to remember
which bin my coat is in.”

Hero quirked his eyebrow. He didn’t believe

me.

I pointed to the white bin behind him. “Uh, I

think it’s in that one.”

He turned, grabbed the bin, and opened it.

Thankfully, I had said the right one and my jacket
was right on top.

I grabbed it and smiled wide. “Okay. I think

I’m ready now.”

Hero snapped on the lid and set the bin back

on the shelf. I would have needed to grab a chair
from the kitchen and precariously stand on it to get
the bin up and down. I flipped off the closet light
and scooted around Hero to close the doors.

“Feels like you aren’t telling me something,

Reva.”

I shrugged on the jacket. At least I could wear

this if I felt like I was revealing too much from the
crop top. “Nothing to tell, handsome.” Whoops.
That slipped out.

He eyed me warily. He grunted and grabbed

my hand. “Let’s get going. I told the guys I was
picking you up and then I would be over.”

I dug my feet in and pulled back on his hand.

“Whoa, whoa. Guys? What guys?”

“I figure that’s pretty obvious who the guys

are.”

I was going to meet the rest of the motorcycle

club. Or, at least, some of them. “Why are we
meeting them? Better yet, why are we going to the
strip club?”

When Hero had told me on the phone

earlier that was where we were going, I had asked
why, and all he said was he had some stuff he
needed to do there.

“I got some stuff to do and then I figured you

and I could hangout.”

“At a strip club?” I laughed.
He shrugged. “Not exactly normal, but…”
“But you’re not normal, Hero. I kind of picked

up on that.” I shook my head and laughed. “I’ve
known you for four days, and somehow, I’m okay
with heading to a strip club with you.”

“Then what’s with the resistance?” he asked.
“One biker dude, I can handle. A whole bunch

of them?” I cringed and gestured to myself. “I’m
not exactly the biker dude type of chick.” I quirked
my eyebrow. I wasn’t sure that made sense.

Hero tugged my hand, and I stepped toward

him. He rested his palm on my hip. “I’m not sure
what you’re trying to say, Sunshine, but I can tell
you right now, you’re my type and that’s all that
fucking matters.”

“Hero,” I laughed. “I groom dogs for a living

and have never been on a motorcycle. I’m pretty
sure those two things do not line up with me being
your type.”

“What do you think is my type? The girls

dancing on the stage? Maybe one of the waitresses
slinging drinks? Maybe one of the girls who hangs
around the club and will sleep with anyone
willing?”

I cringed. That was exactly what I thought.

Well, maybe not so detailed, but it was the type of
girls who were fearless. Who were beautiful and
weren’t afraid to show it. I was wearing a crop top
that covered all of my stomach except for a sliver
and I was worried I was showing too much. I was
not the type of girl who could walk on stage to
show the world how beautiful and sexy she was.

I, Reva Dunn, was not Hero’s type. Prove me

wrong.

“Uh, perhaps?” I cringed.
“You really think I’d be standing in your

bedroom helping you figure out what shoes to wear
and getting your coat down from the closet if you
weren’t my type?”

I pursed my lips. “Maybe?”
Hero grunted, dropped my hand, and took a

step back. He bent over, planted his shoulder in my
stomach, and lifted me up.

“Hero,” I screamed.
He crossed the room in three long strides and

tossed me on the bed. I bounced wildly and
clutched the comforter beneath me. He covered my
body with his and pinned my arms above my head.

“I’m not a fan of being told what I do and

don’t like. That includes you telling me that you’re
not my type when I just straight up told you that
you were.”

I squeaked when his fingers gripped my wrists

tightly and he leaned into me. His nose touched
mine, and his eyes bored into me.

“You’re slightly scaring me,” I whispered.

“Very intense.”

“I’ll never hurt you, Reva. I’ll die before that

happens.” His words were soft yet firm.

“You’ve only known me for four days. That’s

kinda saying a lot.”

“Reva,” he growled. “Are you going to

disagree with everything I have to say tonight?”

I bit my bottom lip. “I’m not disagreeing per

say.”

He pressed a swift, firm kiss to my lips. “Can I

talk now?”

“You have been,” I pointed out.
His lips connected with mine again. The kiss

was longer, and I started to melt into him.

He lifted his lips from mine. “Now?”
“Now what?” I gasped.
He grunted and sealed his lips to mine again.

He shifted the hold of my wrists to one hand and

the other hand trailed down and cupped my breast.

Whoa boy.
Again, he ended the kiss before I was ready

for it to be over.

“What is happening?” I gasped.
“I’m kissing you senseless so you’ll let me talk

without thinking you know better.”

Well, I guess that was one way to shut me up.

I couldn’t say I was completely against it seeing as
I was enjoying his tactic so well. “I think I need one
more kiss to be senseless,” I suggested.

Hero released my wrists and cupped my face

in his hand. This was the best kiss yet. His tongue
swept into my mouth, and I moaned softly. His
hand on my breast slid down, tucked under my
shirt, and scooted back up to palm my breast in his
hand. I arched my back and pressed up to him.

He ripped his lips from mine. “You listening?”

he growled.

I was in a hazy fog and just nodded.
“Whatever shit you think you know about me,

forget. I’m not some guy on a TV show or in a
damn book. I like what I like and that’s it. Don’t
tell me I don’t like you, Reva. Don’t tell me you’re
not my type. I live the way I want to, and I don’t
answer to anyone.”

I didn’t open my mouth. I was still kissed

senseless.

“You get me?” Hero asked.

If Hero thought I was his type, I wasn’t going

to argue with him. Especially if that meant he was
going to keep kissing me.

Nope, nope. I was not going to argue with him

anymore.

Time to ride this for however long it lasted and

just enjoy my time with Hero.

Something told me it was going to be anything

but boring.

“Got it.”

Chapter Eleven

Hero

“You need help?”
Reva fumbled with the strap on the helmet.

She lifted it to her face and scowled. “I can’t see
what I’m doing when I try to do it.” She dropped
the straps and sighed. “Do I really need to wear
this? We’re not driving that far.”

I grabbed the straps of her helmet and snapped

them together. “If you’re on the back of my bike,
you’re wearing a helmet.”

She frowned and touched the black helmet on

her head. “I feel a little dumb.”

I cradled her chin and tipped her head back.

“Are you arguing with me?”

She bit her lip and looked sexy as hell. “Uh, if

I am, does it mean we’ll go back inside and you’ll
kiss me senseless ‘til I listen?”

I shook my head and chuckled. “I’m gonna

have to come up with a different plan. I think you
might start disagreeing with me just to get a kiss.”

“Or you could just kiss me more and then I’ll

always be senseless.” She cringed and closed her
eyes. “That sounded better in my head.”

I pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I know what

you meant, Sunshine.”

“So, do you wear one of these?”
I tapped the helmet. “You’re wearing it.” I

turned to the bike, threw my leg over, and glanced
over my shoulder. She stood there shocked. “Hop
on, Sunshine.”

“If I’m wearing your helmet then what are you

going to wear?”

I shook my head. “Precious cargo gets the

helmet. Hop on, we’re running late.”

She rolled her eyes but climbed on behind me.

She wrapped her arms tightly around me and laid
her chin on my shoulder. “Have I mentioned that
I’ve never been on a motorcycle before?”

The death grip around my waist was a dead

giveaway. I laid a hand on her arm and patted it. “I
got you, Reva. Don’t be afraid.”

Her grip remained tight around me, but I heard

her sigh. The front of her body was pressed against
my back, and it felt right. Only a few women had
ever been on the back of my bike, and it never felt
like this—like Reva was right where she belonged.

We headed to the Sultry Knights. I took the

longer route, zipping through side streets that
weren’t exactly on the way. She squealed when I
revved the engine and rocketed past a car that was
crawling down the road.

Her hold around me relaxed as we drove, and

by the time we pulled into the parking lot of Sultry
Knights, her laughter floated around me when we

parked.

“I liked that route you took to get here.”
I killed the engine and glanced back at her.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, Sunshine.”

She boldly pressed a kiss to my cheek. “I’ve

always been a fan of the long way, Hero.”

“Then stick with me.”
She clumsily slid off the bike and held onto my

shoulder once she stood. “Uh, I’m a bit Jello-y.”

I managed to grab her hand and hop off the

bike. “You’ll get used to it.” I still remember my
first time really riding. After an hour ride, I had
climbed off and fell right on my ass. I had only
been sixteen at the time, and Dad had laughed his
ass off at me. For a short while, I had the nickname
of Jello, but it had thankfully been replaced with
Hero.

I threaded my fingers through hers, and we

wove through the cars in the parking lot toward the
front door.

“It’s pretty busy,” she remarked.
“Thirsty Thursday, Sunshine,” I laughed.

“Luna has two-dollar shots and three-dollar taps.”

Snapper was at the front door checking IDs

and letting people in. Part of his duties as a
prospect meant he was on door check ninety
percent of the time. For the most part, I could tell
he didn’t mind it. But if there was anyone else in
this club who was as hungry as I was for more, it

was Snapper.

“What’s up, brother?” I slapped my hand into

Snapper’s, and we bumped shoulders.

“Frost was looking for you about half an hour

ago.”

He would have been. It had been more than an

hour since I had told him I was on the way. “Busy
night?” I asked.

Snapper shrugged. “Not too bad. Two other

girls called in sick tonight. Luna is on a tear and
yelling at anyone who gets in her way.” He leaned
toward me. “Customers included.”

I could only imagine how pissed off Luna was.

“Then I guess you probably got the best job tonight
since you don’t have to deal with her.”

Snapper laughed. “True that, brother.”
I nodded to Reva. “Reva, Snapper. Snapper,

Reva.”

Snapper gave her a two finger salute. “Yo.”
She smiled shyly. “Hi.”
I clapped him on the shoulder and pulled Reva

in behind me.

“Uh, who was that?” she asked.
I pulled her close to my side and stayed

outside of the club. “Prospect,” I yelled over the
loud music of the club.

“Uh, what?”
I laughed and looped my arm around her

shoulders. “He’s working his way up to being a

member of the club. Eventually.”

I spotted Luna by the bar yelling at Frost. He

casually sipped his beer as if he wasn’t getting
ripped into. Luna slammed another beer down in
front of him and stormed off.

Yeah, Luna was beyond pissed.
We weaved our way through the crowd and

skirted past the stage. Reva watched wide eyed as
the girl slowly spun around the pole. Her top was
open, and she winked at Reva.

Reva’s face blushed bright red, and her eyes

snapped to the floor. I couldn’t help but laugh. It
was refreshing to be with Reva. She was seeing all
of this through virgin eyes, and it was damn funny.
She scooted closer to me and plastered herself to
my side.

“About damn time you got here,” Frost called

when we made it to the bar.

I sat down on the stool next to him and pulled

Reva into my lap.

We were in a different world than the one she

was used to. I had already clocked three guys who
had been eyeing her up as we walked through the
crowd.

She settled between my spread legs, and her

gaze wandered back to the stage. My little Sunshine
was timid but curious.

“This is Reva.”
Reva shyly smiled at Frost. She held out her

hand, and he shook it.

“Darlin’,” Frost drawled.
“Nice to meet you,” she replied. Her eyes

drifted back to the stage, and Frost chuckled.

“Indiana has a way with the crowd,” he

pointed out.

“Her?” Reva asked.
Frost nodded. “That would be her. You got

here just in time to catch the end of her first
performance.”

Indiana was now at the bottom of the pole, her

ass on the ground, and her legs spread wide in the
air. The strong thrum of the music ended, and she
gracefully climbed off the stage floor and grabbed a
few of the crumpled bills by her.

“What’ll ya have?”
I sat back, shocked to see Greta. “Damn, we

must be shorthanded if you’re here tonight.”

Greta rolled her bright green eyes and laid two

napkins in front of Reva and me. Her hair had
changed since the last time I had seen her. It was
bright blue and piled on top of her head. She looked
more like Rigid’s kid than I did. Though people
with blue always seemed to go better together than
those who chose the more natural route. “Hell
froze over and Easy promised me a hundred bucks
on top of my tips tonight.” She shrugged and
grabbed a bottle of whiskey. “I’m in my last
semester and need all of the money I can get.” She

filled a shot glass and set it in front of me.

“Damn. You’re almost done with vet school?”

Frost asked. “Seems like you just started.”

Greta shrugged. “It may feel that way to you,

but it’s been an eternity.” She nodded to Reva.
“What’ll it be?”

I tapped Reva’s leg, and she focused on Greta.

“Uh, what’s that?” She nodded to my shot glass.

“Whiskey. It’ll put some hair on your chest.

You might want to go with something else since I’m
pretty sure Hero isn’t into hairy chests.”

Reva giggled and glanced over her shoulder at

me. “Is that so?”

I grabbed the shot and tossed it back. “Feed

me enough of these and I won’t care, Sunshine.”

Reva turned back to Greta. “I’ll just have an

amaretto sour. Double.”

Greta winked. “Good choice. You’ll fit in just

fine with the rest of the ol’ ladies.”

Frost choked on his beer, and Reva tensed.

Good job, Greta. She always said whatever she
wanted and didn’t care if it made people
uncomfortable.

“Uh, did I hear you’re going to school to be a

vet?” Reva asked.

Greta grabbed a tall glass, filled it with ice,

and splashed three fingers of amaretto in. “Only a
couple of weeks to go.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

“Oh yeah?” Greta laughed.
Reva nodded. “I’m a groomer. Dogs are kind

of my life. At least from nine to five. I would have
loved to have been a vet, but I’m too much of a
softy. I would bawl every time a sick animal came
in. I’m much better at just making them look
pretty.”

Greta shook her finger at Reva. “Now I know

you’re a saint. I don’t have the patience to give a
dog a haircut, let alone a good one.”

“Trust me,” Reva giggled, “it isn’t all cute

dogs and bows in their hair.”

Greta finished the drink and set it in front of

Reva. “Now you’re just being modest.” She winked
at Reva, refilled my shot, and made her way back
down the bar to fill other drink orders.

Reva took a sip of her drink and hummed.

“That is super good. I can’t remember the last time
I went out and had a drink at a bar.”

Frost held up his beer. “They always taste

better when someone else is pouring them.”

“Cheers to that.” Reva clinked her glass

against his and smiled wide. She looked damn
beautiful, and Frost noticed it.

You would have to be dead to not notice it.
Frost leaned back in his chair. “You better get

that one tied down,” he said quietly.

I didn’t reply. He was right. I had seen a lot in

my twenty-eight years and knew that what I had

started with Reva was damn good. If I was stupid, I
would lose it and never get it back. Reva may be a
little naïve when it came to motorcycle clubs and
strip joints, but she wasn’t an idiot.

We were both a little hesitant since it really

had only been four days since we met. I wanted to
put on the brakes and just slow things down a bit,
but I couldn’t stay away from her. Did I need to
invite her to the club tonight? No. It wasn’t like this
was a great date, but she seemed to be enjoying
herself. And I had to admit that having her here
with me made coming to the Sultry Knights much
more enjoyable.

Luna stomped behind the bar and headed

straight for me.

“I can’t do this,” she growled.
I laughed and tossed back the second shot of

whiskey.

“Work?” Frost asked.
I chuckled and set the empty shot glass in

front of Luna.

She glared at me and grabbed the bottle of

whiskey. One of the perks of being a Devil’s
Knight. Your glass was never empty for long. She
sloshed the brown liquid in and shoved it back to
me. “Two more girls called in tonight.”

“And?”
Luna had begged and pleaded to be the

manager of Sultry Knights. Dealing with employees

calling in was part of the deal.

She growled and leaned in toward me.
Reva laid her hand on my thigh and leaned

back into me. I wrapped my arm around her waist
and pressed a kiss to her cheek. Luna could
definitely be intimidating if she was wound up
enough. “This is Luna, Sunshine,” I whispered in
her ear.

“She, uh, seems nice.” Reva grabbed her drink

and settled back into me.

“I don’t know why you’ve got your panties in

a twist, Luna. You got Greta helping you out. She
works harder than any other of your waitresses.”
Frost drained his beer and grabbed the one Luna
had poured him before she stormed off.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” she snapped.
Frost held up his hands. “I can see you’ve

forgotten everything that happened today. Back to
bitch Luna,” he grumbled.

Frost and Luna were constantly going back

and forth with each other. Part of me wondered if
they just needed to fall into bed and fuck it out.

“Why don’t you get off your ass and do what

you dumbasses were supposed to do tonight? Zig
and Zag are hungover in the corner. Snapper has his
thumb up his ass sitting at the door. You two are
just drinking, and I haven’t seen the rest of the
guys.” She grabbed a bar towel and smacked it on
the counter. “There’s a killer on the loose, and you

guys are doing jack shit.” She threw the towel in
Frost’s face and stormed off again.

Frost balled it up and tossed it on the bar.

“That chick needs some weed, booze, or dick.”

I grabbed the shot she had poured. “Probably

all three.”

“Hero,” Reva scolded. “You can tell she’s

overwhelmed.”

I laughed and shook my head. “I’m gonna let

that pass, Sunshine, since you don’t know Luna and
you’re giving her the benefit of the doubt. What
you just saw is basically Luna twenty-four-seven.”

“Well, I’m gonna get up before she storms

back over here.” Frost stood and dropped a twenty
on the bar. “Make sure that goes to Greta.” He
sauntered off toward the stage.

“Uh, are you supposed to be doing

something?” Reva asked.

I shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Hero,” she scoffed. “Let me go and do

whatever it is you need to do.”

I tighten my hold on her. “Not before I get a

kiss.”

She rolled her eyes and twisted to press a kiss

to my cheek. “Now go to work. I promise there is
more where that came from.”

I grabbed her chin and kissed her lips. “You’re

the only one who refers to club business as work.”

She shrugged. “I mean, it is your work, right?”

I let her off my lap, and she slid onto the stool Frost
had been sitting on. “Now, go. I’ve got a drink and
some dancing to watch.”

“You sure you’re good?”
She shooed me off with a wave of her hand.

“You’re blocking my view of the stage.”

“Should I be worried about you being so into

the stage?” I chuckled.

Reva rolled her eyes. “I couldn’t even pull

myself up on that pole. It’s amazing what these girls
can do.”

I guess that was better than her thinking the

girls were beneath her. “Behave while I’m gone.” I
pressed a kiss to her cheek and made eye contact
with Greta, who was making her way back down
the length of the bar. She nodded, knowing I
wanted her to keep an eye on Reva.

Frost was standing by the front door with his

arms folded over his chest.

“You hiding out here?” I asked him.
He rolled his eyes. “Fucking Luna,” he

grumbled. “She’s the annoying little sister I never
wanted.”

I clapped him on the shoulder. “Why do you

think I don’t hang out here as much?”

Frost smirked. “Probably because of her.” He

nodded to Reva at the bar who was talking to
Greta.

“She’s only been in the picture a few days. I

figured out a while ago if I didn’t hang out here, I
wouldn't have Luna up my ass.”

“Well, lesson fucking learned.” He pushed off

the wall. “I’ll see who I can talk to in the back.
Indiana doesn’t go back on for a while. I’ll talk to
her.” He took off to the hallway that led to the girl’s
large dressing room.

Zig and Zag were camped at one of the far

tables, but they were at least chatting with the
waitress who was serving them. If they were
actually talking about Bunny, I didn’t know.

I spotted Pie on the other side of the stage

talking to a girl who was about to hop on. I wished
like hell that I could have just stayed with Reva,
but I knew if I helped out talking to the girls, then
we might get some answers faster. I headed down
the hall after Frost and sighed.

Get this shit done, and then, I could get back

to Reva.

Reva

“Hero is going to kill you.”
Greta glared at Luna and dropped a cherry

into the glass. “Oh, phooey. Have a little fun,
Luna.”

Luna grabbed the bottle of Amaretto and set it

under the bar. “You’re getting his ol’ lady drunk
when he isn’t around.”

Greta set the glass in front of me. “Those

sound like club rules, and last I check, neither of us
were part of the club.” Greta winked at me.
“Bottoms up, sweetheart.”

My head was fuzzy from the three I had

already drunk, and part of me yelled to not touch it.
The other part of me knew it tasted delicious and
wondered what I was doing, waiting to down it.

Maybe I should sip this one. The last three had

gone down so smooth that I drank them without
thought.

Greta had been sticking close to me since

Hero went to work, and Luna had been over on and
off.

“How long is Hero working for?”

Greta smiled.
Luna rolled her eyes.
“Work?” Greta asked.
I waved my hand around and leaned forward

to catch the straw with my lips. Keeping the glass
on the bar was better than me trying to hold it. I
had almost dumped my last one when I tried to
clap. “You know,” I mumbled. I finally snagged the
straw after chasing it around and took a long sip.

“No, I don’t know,” Luna drawled.

She was still scary to me, but she wasn’t as

intimidating. When Luna had disappeared for a few

minutes, Greta had clued me in that Luna was a bit
of a bitch, but she had her reasons. The biggest was
that she was pissed she could run Sultry Knights,
but she really had no say when it came to anything.
It sounded like she wanted to be part of the
motorcycle club, but Greta said that wasn’t possible
since she was a woman.

I stifled a yawn with the back of my hand.

Booze made me tired. Now I remembered that.
“Whatever it is that he’s doing, is he almost done?”

Luna rolled her eyes. “It’s club business,

sweetheart, and unfortunately, none of us are privy
to it.”

Greta laughed. “Well, normally you’re not but

if you wanna be like Luna, just barge into church
and demand to know what is going on.”

I hiccupped and raised my hand. “I don’t do

church. The pews are too hard and I have a horrible
singing voice.” No way I would go barging into
church. Nope.

Greta silently laughed and shook her head.

Luna let out of a bark of laughter and

slapped her hand on the bar top. “Now that is some
funny shit,” she gasped.

I had no idea what they were laughing at. I

was pretty sure that most everyone would agree
that wooden pews were hard as hell. Sitting on
those things for an hour was pure torture. “Can I
have some more cherries?” I put my hand over the

top of my glass. “Not in here, though. I want them
in my mouth.”

“God damn, girl,” Greta laughed. “You are

fucking entertaining.”

I bowed my head. “You’re welcome.” I raised

my head. “Now, can I have a cup o’ cherries?”

“A cup o’?” Luna asked.
I twirled my finger around. “You know what

I’m talking about.”

Greta grabbed an empty cup and dropped a

few cherries in.

I wagged my finger at her. “Keep ‘er coming,”

I slurred. “Maybe a hot dog, too.”

Luna blinked. “Did you just ask for a hot

dog?”

I tipped my head to the side and thought back

five seconds. “Yup, sure did.” I nodded. “Can I
have seven?”

“Hot dogs or cherries?” Greta scoffed.
“Both.” I could nosh on my cherries while

they boiled up some hot dogs.

“She wants hot dogs.” Luna looked past me.

“Seven of them.”

I waved my hand in her direction. “I’m here

right.” Whoa, pretty sure that was backward. Or
maybe it was right. Hell if I knew.

“What the hell did you feed her?” Hero’s

voice.

I sighed dreamily. I had missed it. I planted

my feet on the rungs of my stool. “You’re back
from work I see.” I tried to spin my stool around,
but the heel of my boot got stuck and my feet
stayed on the rung while the rest of my body
twisted. “Hey der.” I lost control of the stool and
boomeranged back to facing Greta and Luna. “That
was a ride.”

Greta set the cup o’ cherries in front of me.

“Eat those, and I’ll see what I can wrangle up in
the back.”

She moved down the bar, and I saluted her

back. “Aye, aye.” I grabbed a cherry and popped it
in my mouth.

The stool next to me moved, and then, Hero

was there. He had a huge smile on his face, and he
laid his hand on my arm. “You doing okay,
Sunshine?”

I gave a wonky thumbs up. “Never better.

Strip club drinks are the bomb diggity.” I patted his
hand on top of my arm. “And, Luna is a bitch, but
not like a super duper bitch.”

“Sunshine,” Hero laughed. He hitched his

thumb toward Luna.

“Oh pfft,” I scoffed. “She totally knows it.”
Luna shrugged. “She’s right. Can’t be mad at

her for calling it like it is.”

We had come to an understanding even

though I was still a bit intimidated by her. Plus, the
drinks had helped to loosen me up. Under sober

circumstances, I never would have called her a
bitch to her face.

“How was work?”
Luna laughed and shook her head. “She talks
like you’re some suit going to the office.”

“Ohhh,” Reva gasped. “Can I see you in a

suit? Then you can take the jacket off and roll up
your sleeves so the tattoos peek out?” She fanned
her face with her hand. “Oh yeah.”

Greta set a bowl in front of Reva. “No hot

dogs, but I found a can of soup.”

Reva leaned over the bowl. “Bar soup?”

She looked at Greta. “Who has a can of soup at a
strip club?”

Even drunk Reva spoke the truth.
I grabbed the bowl and pushed it back toward

Greta. “I’ll grab you something on the way home.”

“Oh, my God!” Reva gasped. “I could totally

eat a hot dog on the back of your bike while you
drive!”

Luna and Greta busted out laughing, and even

I had to chuckle at the thought of Reva trying to eat
a hot dog while I drove her home. I was happy to
see that she was getting along with Greta and Luna.

It had taken about an hour to talk to all of the

girls, and we were basically at the same place as
when we started.

Except we did have a name to her ex-

boyfriend now.

Luna rested her elbows on the bar and leaned

toward me. “Did you find anything out?”

I shrugged. “We got the name of an ex, but

I’m sure the cops have the same name.”

“You gonna talk to him?” Luna asked.
“Luna.”
She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Hero. Can you

just drop the whole club business crap with me. I’m
as much of a part of the club as you are. I just can’t
make it official because I wasn’t born with the right
equipment.”

“You don’t like your equipment?” Reva

hiccupped.

I didn’t think she was sober enough to actually

follow along with Luna and me. She probably
wasn’t since all she picked up on was Luna not
having the right equipment.

“I like my equipment, sugar.” Luna grabbed

her tits. “The girls and I get the job done. It’s just
that the MC lives in the stone age and thinks
because I’ve got tits that I don’t know shit.”

Reva leaned back and looked down at her

chest. “I got small boobies, and I know shit.”

“They aren’t small, Sunshine,” I growled. I

had my hands on them. They filled my hand
perfectly.

Reva grabbed her boobs like Luna did. “Are

you sure?” She weighed them in her hands and
frowned.

“Stop grabbing yourself, Sunshine.”
She turned her frown on me. “Why?”
“Because it makes me want to touch more

than I already do.” I leaned close and brushed my
lips against her ear. “Unless you want me to lay you
out on this bar right now. Your choice.”

She dropped her hands from her tits and

gasped.

“That’s what I thought.”
She turned her head, and her eyes connected

with mine. “Can I get a checkrain on that without
the audience?”

I chuckled and pressed my lips to hers. “You

mean raincheck, Sunshine?”

“Uh, yeah. My brain kind of disconnects from

my mouth.” She pressed her finger into my chest.
“Plus, I think I’d fall off the bar right now. Bit tit
tipsy.”

“Every time you open your mouth, Sunshine, I

like you even more.” Bit tit tipsy. That was a new
one to me.

“And every time I see your butt, I want to bite

it.” She blinked rapidly. “Oh, Lord.” She slapped
her hand over her mouth.

“Did she just say she wants to bite your butt?”

Luna pushed off the bar and threw her hands up in
the air. “Here I thought you found a cute little
virgin. Now she’s talking about butt biting.”

Greta put her arm around Luna’s shoulder.

“Maybe we should let these two be and see if
anyone needs a refill.”

They headed off down the bar, and I turned

my attention back to Reva.

“You were saying?” I chuckled.
She shook her head. “No,” she muffled. “I

need to keep my mouth shut until I sober up. I’m
already an idiot when you’re around. The booze
intensifies it by one hundred.”

“Or maybe it helps you tell the truth?”
Her face planted in my chest, and she moaned.

“Oh, my God, Hero. I’m drunk in a strip club on a
Thursday night, and I just told you I want to bite
your butt.”

“Welcome to the life of the Devil’s Knights?”

I had told her my life was anything but normal. I
looped my arm around her waist and maneuvered
her onto my lap. We were sitting in the middle of a
strip club, but I wanted her closer. She willingly
moved onto my lap and sighed.

“It never seems to be a dull moment when

you’re around.”

I brushed her hair from her face. “And I think

the same thing about you, Sunshine.”

She groaned and patted her hand to my cheek.

“Such a pretty face.”

“I think it might be time to get you home.” If

she got any tipsier, she wasn’t going to be able to
ride home. She would slide right off the bike into

the ditch.

“Mmkay,” she mumbled.
I dropped a couple of twenties on the bar and

gathered Reva under my arm. The Knights drank
for free around here, but we still tipped well.

Reva waved at Snapper as we walked out the

door. “Bye, bye, Snappy.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Have fun,”

he called.

I helped strap the helmet on her head when we

got to the bike, and she held onto my shoulders
when she threw her leg over the bike. She landed
with a thud and giggled. “I bet you thought I was
going ass over tea.”

Yeah, she was getting drunker by the minute.

“I knew you had it, Sunshine.”

She wrapped her arms around me and laid her

head on my shoulder. “Take me, Hero.”

I was pretty sure she missed a word in there.

“Hold on, Sunshine.”

We roared out of the parking lot, and I headed

back to her house. I had been hoping to take the
long way home to just enjoy having her on my bike,
but four amaretto sours had different plans.

We parked in front of her condo, and she

sighed heavily. “I think I almost fell asleep.”

I slipped off the bike, and before she could

throw her leg over, I gathered her in my arms and
carried her up the walk to her door.

“Such a good Hero,” she sighed. She dug in

her purse and handed me her keys. “Wanna sleep
with me?”

I shook my head and managed to open the

door. Reva had no idea what she was saying. I
could be a dick and take her words for what they
were and have sex with her tonight. Except I
wanted her to actually remember it. I headed to her
bedroom and set her on the bed. She laid back and
threw her arms over her head. “My bed is so
comfy.”

“I’m sure it is.” I tugged off her boots and

dropped them at the foot of the bed. “You wanna
change?”

Reva raised a finger in the air. “I need to pee.”
“You need help, Sunshine?”
She popped up and smiled wide. “I think I can

handle it.” She stood and rested a hand on my
shoulder.

“Maybe I’ll just help you get there.”
She patted my shoulder. “You’ve got a good

butt, and I like the way you think.”

“You got a thing for my butt, Sunshine?”
“It’s a good one,” she mumbled.
I didn’t even know that she was checking me

out, let alone that she was a fan of my butt. We
made it to the bathroom, and she stopped in the
doorway.

“You got it from here.”

She nodded. “I’m drunk, not dead.”
I laughed and watched her stumble in and

close the door in my face.

Yeah, she was far from dead. “I’m gonna go

lock up the house. Grab a couple of aspirin for
yourself while you’re in there,” I called.

She mumbled something I couldn’t make out.
I walked back out to the living room, kicked

off my boots, and locked the front door. I grabbed a
bottle of water from the fridge and a bag of chips
she had sitting on the counter. We didn’t have any
dinner, and I was hungry.

Reva was sprawled out on top of the bed, face

down, when I walked back in.

“Hungry?” I asked.
She groaned and rolled over on her back.

“God, yes. There’s frozen pizza in the freezer if
you’re feeling frisky.”

I tossed the chips on the bed next to her and

headed back into the kitchen. She didn’t have to
tell me twice.

Half an hour later, we were camped out in her

bed with a pizza between us and a movie playing.

“I think I’m sobering up.” Reva shoved a

slice of pizza in her mouth and took a huge bite. A
piece of pepperoni stuck to her chin.

I reached over and grabbed the meat off her

face. “Uh, sure you are.” If you can’t feel a slab of
meat on your face then it’s safe to say you’re still

pretty drunk. I had learned that enough times in my
life.

She grabbed it from my hand and popped it

in her mouth. “No stealing my peppa. Maybe I was
saving that for later.”

“You normally go to sleep with a pepperoni

face mask so you can snack on it during the night?”
I laughed.

She shoved the rest of the pizza in her

mouth and flopped back on her pillow. “Why are
you Hero?”

She was all over the place. Reva was a

talker when she drank. She didn’t always make
sense, but she definitely talked. “Why am I Hero?”
I repeated.

She waved her finger in my direction. “Why?”
“You done with this?” I asked.

“Why?” Reva called.
I shook my head and cleaned up the pizza and

chips from the middle of the bed. I set everything
on the nightstand and turned off the lights. Reva
was losing steam, and she was going to be passed
out soon.

“Roll.” I grabbed the comforter, pulled it back,

and Reva rolled under it. I slid into bed next to her,
and she cuddled into my side.

“Why?”
“You sound like a broken record, Sunshine.”
She pinched my side. “Tell me why you’re

Hero before I fall asleep.”

“I’m assuming you want to know how I got

my road name.”

“Ding, ding.”
There really wasn’t much to tell. “Just a few

things that happened and then the name just stuck.”

“Details,” Reva drawled.
“You’re pretty demanding when you’re

drunk.”

She grabbed my nipple through my shirt and

twisted.

“God damn, woman,” I laughed. I knocked

her hand away, and she smiled evilly up at me.
“Keep it up and you’ll never see my butt naked.”

“You wouldn’t,” she gasped. “You can’t take

that away from me.”

“We won’t get into you wanting to bite my ass

either.”

“It’s not really bite,” she insisted. “More like a

nibble.”

“So you want to nibble on my ass?” I couldn’t

even get the words out without cracking up.

She buried her face in her hand. “Oh, Lord.

Never mind.”

I settled back into the bed and sighed. “They

call me Hero because for a while I was trying to be
everyone's hero.”

“That doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t exactly doing it for the

right reasons, though. I was young and thought if I
helped everyone it would make me look like a hero.
Though looking back on it, it doesn’t really make
any sense.”

“Who called you it first?” she asked.
“My dad. He could see what I was doing. He

called me it so I could see I wasn’t a hero.”

“Huh?”
Maybe this wasn’t a story to tell when Reva

might not remember it in the morning. “I was doing
everything for the wrong reasons, Reva. I would
help to get recognition. To get that pat on my back.
I wanted to look like a hero to everyone.” I sighed
and thought back to the day when I was helping
Dad fix his bike and instead of actually helping, I
had just fucked things up even more because I
thought I knew better than he did. “He told me I
wasn’t a hero. At least, not to the people around
me. I needed to stop trying to save everyone to get
attention. If I kept seeking out the attention, I was
going to get the wrong type of attention.”

“So your dad told you to stop helping

people?” she scoffed. “That doesn’t seem right.”

I chuckled. “No. He told me to stop helping

people for the wrong reasons. Help because I
wanted to help, not to get a pat on the back.”

She moved her head side to side. “I guess

that makes sense. But then why did he start calling
you Hero if he didn’t want you to be a hero?”

“Because that was my dad’s ass backward

way to continue to remind me to knock it off.
And,” I laughed, “it was better than what they were
calling me.”

“What were they calling you?” she asked.
“That’s a story for another time,” I laughed.
Reva groaned. “You can’t say that and then

not tell me.”

I ran my fingers through her hair. “If I tell you

everything now, what will we have to talk about
later?”

“I’m pretty sure we have a ton to talk about.”
“Nah, I think I’m going to keep that to myself

for a while. Make sure you stick around.”

She sighed. “Fine. Whatever. I was gonna

stick around anyway.” She laid her hand on my
chest. “I think I’m gonna sleep now.”

“Sounds like a solid plan, Sunshine. You gotta

work in the morning?” I asked.

She groaned. “Yes. Grooming while hungover.

I can’t wait.”

It was only a little after eleven so she would at

least be able to get enough sleep. “Sleep, Sunshine.
The aspirin and water you drank will help.”

She didn’t answer, and I looked down to see

her eyes closed. Damn. She really meant it when
she said she was going to sleep.

I watched the movie ‘til it was over, and she

hadn’t moved an inch. Four amaretto sours were

the key to Reva sleeping like the dead. I turned off
the TV and stared up at the ceiling.

Tomorrow, we were going to chase down

Bunny’s ex and see if he knew anything about her
death. Frost was the one who had talked to Indiana,
and she had told him Bunny had broken up with
him because he worked too much and never had
time to see her. It didn’t sound like he had anything
to do with her dying, but maybe he might be able to
help point us in the direction of who had.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand. I

managed to grab it without waking up Reva.

What in the fuck is going on there? Shit. It

was King.

I hadn’t checked in with him the past couple

of days. He must have heard about Bunny and
wanted answers. I wished I could just ignore the
message until morning, but that wouldn’t have a
good outcome for me. I may have been acting as
the prez, but King was still ultimately in charge.

I slipped out of bed and pressed my pillow into

Reva’s arms when she squirmed. She settled onto
the pillow and sighed. I hit the call button when I
made it to the living room and pressed the phone to
my ear.

“Shit must not be good if you’re fucking

calling me,” he grunted into the phone.

“Lo,” Meg called in the background, “give the

kid a break for a second.”

Meg was there with him so hopefully he

wouldn’t lose his cool completely on me. She
seemed to be able to reign him in when others
couldn’t. She was also only one of two people who
could call him by his real name without getting their
head ripped off.

“You better start talking, boy, or I’m driving

this fucking spaceship back to Rockton.”

That was exactly what I didn’t want to

happen. “Who have you talked to?” I asked.

“Demon was talking to Frost, and he let it slip

that one of the girls from the club wound up dead.”

Dammit, Frost. He was my right-hand man and

had ratted me out. “Yeah, that’s about it.”

“That’s about it?” King rumbled. “You didn’t

think maybe that was something you should have
told me? Sultry Knights is directly connected to the
club, dumbass, and someone dying is a pretty big
fucking deal.”

He was right. “I was trying to get everything

sorted before I called you.” That was a lie but it at
least sounded good.

“Sorted,” King snorted. “Why don’t you start

from the fucking beginning of what you know and
I’ll be the one to tell you if you’ve got any of this
shit sorted out.”

I ran down everything that had happened

yesterday and today. It was quite a bit for only
forty-eight hours.

“Fucking hell,” King grumbled. “A fucking

mess.”

Yeah. That’s where I was when it came down

to it. “We’re heading out to talk to the ex tomorrow
and track down the girls who called in tonight.
Hopefully, they might know something.”

“We’ll be home in two days.”
“What?” Meg shouted in the background.

“We are not going home, Logan Birch!”

Hell. Meg pulled out his full name. “Someone

is fucking dead, Meg. We’re going home.”

“No, we are not,” she insisted. “Hero is taking

care of it. I heard everything he just told you. He’s
making sure everyone is safe, and he’s trying to
figure out what happened. He’s got the police
involved. What are you going to do that he isn’t?”

Meg was definitely my favorite now.

“Did I ask for your opinion?” he growled.
“No, but you still got it. We are not turning

around so you can go back and lord over him.” Her
voice got clearer. “Hero,” she called.

“Uh, yeah?”
“We’re not coming home, but you’re gonna

need to check in with Lo more, honey. His alpha
ass doesn’t like not knowing what’s going on.”

I smiled and shook my head. “Uh, I can do

that,” I replied.

“Good. That’s settled, then.”
“It is not settled,” King grunted. His voice

boomed from the phone. “You will call me every
fucking day, twice a day, and if you don’t, I will fly
my ass back there to make sure shit is getting
handled.”

“I got it, King. I was gonna call you tomorrow

and let you know what was going on. The past two
days have been pretty crazy.” I knew if I didn’t call
him at least twice a day, he would be back before I
could say no.

“Find out what the ex knows and call me right

away.” The line disconnected, and I dropped my
chin to my chest.

Christ. That was not how I wanted it to go. It

would have been much better if I would have been
able to break shit down for King without him
already knowing half of what was going on. Of
course, he only knew the bad shit.

I pulled up Frost’s number and put the phone

to my ear.

“I wondered how long it would be ‘til you

called me. I’m really surprised that it was this
quick. I only talked to my dad ten minutes ago.”

“Yeah,” I growled. “Thankfully Meg was with

King so he didn’t rip me a new asshole as much as
he wanted to.” I ran my fingers through my hair.
“You wanna tell me why the hell you thought it was
your business to report to your dad about what is
going on?”

Frost laughed. “Uh, you might want to tone it

down, Hero. I didn’t run to Daddy and rat you out.
He knew about Bunny before he called me. He’s in
some group on an app that reports all of the going-
ons of the town. He saw someone post about it, and
then, he called me to see if it was true.”

Jesus. They were halfway across the country,

and they still knew everything that was going on in
Rockton. “You don’t think you could have given
me a fucking heads up after you talked to him?”

“Brother, I got off the phone with my dad and

then a fight broke out. I had to take care of that and
then I was gonna call you.”

“Fight?” I asked.
“Just two drunks thinking they could get

handsy with one of the girls,” Frost explained.

“Which girl?”
Frost chuckled. “Luna.”
Oh hell. “So the two guys are in the morgue

now?” I joked. Luna’s straight to the point attitude
normally was enough of a deterrent for guys to
know to keep their hands off her. I guess these guys
thought they could handle her.

“Zig and Zag saw it happen and managed to

break it up before Luna threw a punch.”

“Lucky bastards.”
“Yeah,” Frost sighed. “We kicked them out

and shit settled.”

That was good. “Well, King isn’t back to the

clubhouse just yet. Meg talked him into giving me

the chance to handle everything.”

“Under what stipulations?” Frost asked.
Even Frost knew King wasn’t going to just

turn a deaf ear to what was going on. “Check in
twice a day with updates.”

“And I’m guessing if you miss even one, your

ass is fried.”

“Yup. Basically.”
“Then I guess we better figure out what the

hell is going on, brother.”

That was the damn plan. Tomorrow, we were

kicking shit into high gear. There was a killer on the
loose, and either we or the cops were going to
figure out who it was.

For the sake of Bunny’s killer, they better pray

the cops would be the one to find them because if I
did, they were going to need a body bag.

Chapter Twelve

Reva

The hum of the buzzers grated on my nerves.
“We are never drinking on a weeknight again,

Tucker.”

Tucker looked up at me with his big brown

eyes. His tail wagged, and he licked his lips. The
pretty little sheltie was such a good boy, and he was
putting up with me complaining to him. Not like he
could tell me to shut up or anything, but he really
seemed to be listening.

Hero had woken me up at eight thirty with a

steaming cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich. The
smell of the bacon made my stomach roll, but I
knew I needed to eat something. I had managed to
choke down half of the sandwich and the coffee as
I dragged my butt out of bed and got ready for
work.

Thankfully, Hero kept the talking to a

minimum and didn’t bust my balls about being so
hungover. Though his eyes sparkled with laughter,
and I knew he thought it was pretty damn funny
when I had tried to put lip gloss on and instead
grabbed my mascara. I had wiped off the smear of
mascara from my lips and decided I wasn’t capable
of putting on any makeup. I managed to get dressed

without putting my underwear on my head and my
shoes on my feet.

He had driven me to work and promised to be

back at five to pick me up to take me out to dinner.

Tucker was my last dog for the day, and I was

waiting for my second wind to hit me.

The bell dinged above the door, and I assumed

it was Hero.

“Hey!” I called.
“Well, hey there,” a female voice called.
I glanced over my shoulder, surprised that it

wasn’t Hero. “Greta?”

She slid her sunglasses on top of her head and

smiled. “You mean you remember me?”

I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t that drunk last

night.” At least at the bar I hadn’t been. When I
had gotten off the motorcycle, that was when the
booze had really hit me. Thankfully, Hero had been
the only one to see that.

“Honey, you were drinking those amaretto’s

like they were water.” She leaned against the front
counter. “Cute pup.”

I petted Tucker’s head. He was pretty

adorable. “He says thank you.”

“Oh,” Greta laughed. “You’re one of those
people.”
“Uh, excuse me?” What did she mean? I simply
conveyed what Tucker thought.

“You speak for them. I bet you talk to them,

too.” She raised her hands. “Nothing wrong with it.
I do it when I’m examining them.”

“Look at this face,” I cooed. “You can just see

that he says thank you for saying he’s cute.”

Greta laughed. “I don’t think anyone could

say you didn’t like your job.”

I finished grooming Tucker’s hind end and

grabbed a brush. “I enjoy what I do,” I replied
simply.

“You about done?” she asked.
I glanced at the clock. “Uh, maybe ten

minutes more. His owner should be here soon.
Why?”

“I’m your ride, sweet cheeks. I have orders to

take you out to dinner, make sure you don’t drink
too much, and then deposit you at your house.”

“Uh, what?” Hero had said he was going to do

all of that. Well, at least picking me up and taking
me out to dinner. I could make sure that I didn’t
drink too much. Two nights in a row was not my
style.

“Something came up, and he had to take off.

He thought he would be home in time but he called
me and asked me to pick you up.” She wiggled her
eyebrows. “Greta’s taxi service at your disposal.”

But what hadn’t Hero told me?
The phone rang, and I grabbed it off the

counter. “Hair of the Dog,” I answered.

“Sunshine.”

Speak of the devil. “Well, hey there.” I rolled

my eyes at Greta and sighed.

“Hero?” she mouthed.
I nodded and turned back to Tucker.
“I’m not gonna be able to pick you up

tonight.”

“I know.”
“You know?” he asked.
“Yeah. Greta walked in two minutes ago.”
“Damn,” he laughed. “I didn’t think she would

be that quick to get over there.”

“You didn’t need to call her. I could have just

walked home. It’s not that far.” I pulled the brush
through Tucker’s long hair, and he leaned into me.

“You live on the other side of town, Sunshine.

No way you were going to walk home.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re acting like Rockton

is some huge town.”

“Just go with Greta, Sunshine. That will be

one less thing I have to worry about right now,” he
sighed.

“You have other things to worry about?” I

asked. “Are you okay? Greta said something came
up and you had to leave town.”

“Just something I planned on doing today but

shit went sideways.” He sounded annoyed and a
little pissed. “Just go grab a bite with Greta, have
fun, and I’ll call you later.”

“Oh, okay.” I really didn’t want to add to his

worries. I had no idea what he was dealing with,
but I could tell it wasn’t going good. “Do you want
me to pick something up for you to eat when you
get back?”

“No, Sunshine. Just worry about yourself. I’ll

grab something.”

That didn’t sound like he was going to be back

in town soon. “Are you sure there isn’t something I
can do?”

“No, Reva.” His tone was firm and slightly

annoyed. “Just eat and head home. Get me?”

“Yeah, sorry. I’ll let you go.”
“No, dammit.” He sighed, and I pictured him

running his fingers through his hair. “I’m not mad at
you, Sunshine. Just there isn’t anything you can do
to help, okay? Just…I’ll call you when I’m on the
way home, okay?”

“Okay,” I replied softly.
“Stay safe, Sunshine.”

He ended the call, and I felt slightly

annoyed he had been too curt with me.

“What did his royal dickhead have to say?”

Greta asked.

I set the phone down and sighed. “Just what

you told me.”

“Uh, oh,” Greta groaned. “Was he a dick to

you?”

“No.” Well. “Maybe.” I turned around and

tipped my head to the side. “I really don’t know.”

Greta twirled her finger in the air. “Wrap up

that pup and let’s get out of here, sugar. You need
to have a little dinner with Aunt Greta. It’s time to
learn the ways of an ol’ lady.”

I laughed and fought back the tears that were

threatening to fall. “I’m pretty sure I’m older than
you, Greta.” And I didn’t think she was an ol’ lady.

She rolled her eyes. “Then just call me Sister

Greta.”

A laugh escaped my lips. “I don’t think nuns

are tattooed and have blue hair.”

“Yeah.” She looked at the sleeve of tattoos

covering her arm. “I’m a little too colorful for that
nun life.”

Maybe Greta was exactly who I needed to talk

to, though.

She hitched her thumb over her shoulder

toward the door. “I just gotta make a couple of calls
while you finish beautifying that pup.”

I nodded and smiled. “Fifteen minutes and I’ll

be out.”

She gave me a thumbs up and headed back

outside.

Hero hadn’t been mean to me; he had just

been a little too curt. There had been an edge to his
voice that I had never heard before.

I sighed and got back to finishing up Tucker. I

was probably being too sensitive and just needed to
suck it up. I had no idea what Hero was up to, so it

didn’t really make sense for me to offer to help. I
had decided that I was going to ride the wave with
Hero for however long it lasted and just enjoy it. I
didn’t know it was going to be a little bumpy so
soon.

Chapter Thirteen

Hero

“You know this is getting a little suspicious,

right?”

I rolled my eyes, but the guy had a point. “We

just came to have a little chat with Charlie,” I
insisted.

“Then why did he call 9-1-1?”
Because he was a fucking chicken?

Coward? Lame as fuck? Any of those applied to
Bunny’s ex. “I don’t know. We just knocked on the
door.”

“Did he know you were coming?”

No. If he had, he probably wouldn’t have

been home. “I lost his number. We used to be
buddies back in the day.”

Two hours ago, we had knocked on Charlie

Winslow’s front door, and then fifteen minutes
later, all hell broke loose. Good ol’ Charlie called
the cops on us, and now, Frost and I were sitting in
an interrogation room at the police station.

We had been told we weren’t under arrest, but

they wanted to have a talk with us. Since Frost and
I weren’t looking for trouble, we hopped on our
bikes and headed down to the station with two
police cars following us.

Now Detective Ransom sat opposite us. He

didn’t seem too convinced that Frost and I had
popped over to Charlie’s house unannounced with
the story Charlie was an old friend. “Charlie said he
has never met either of you in his life before.”

Frost chuckled. “That Charlie. He sure is a

kidder.”

Ransom sat back in his chair and folded his

arms over his chest. “Look. How about I don’t
think you guys are idiots and you do the same?
Deal?”

“Never once thought you were an idiot.” I laid

my hand on the table. “We just wanted to have a
conversation with Charlie. We don’t know why he
freaked out the way he did.”

“What did you want to talk to him about?”

Ransom asked.

He knew. He knew exactly why we were there

and what we wanted to talk about. “I thought we
agreed we were going to go with the non-idiot route
of each other?”

Ransom growled under his breath. He didn’t

want to have to deal with us. Tough luck. We
weren’t going anywhere as long as Bunny’s killer
was out there. “He doesn’t have a clue who killed
Bunny. We talked to him this morning.”

“Then why did he call you guys when we

knocked on his door?” I countered.

Ransom leaned in and rested his arms on the

table. “Because four hours earlier, we had talked to
him about his dead girlfriend, and then, you two
thugs show up on his doorstep unannounced. He
thought you were there to kill him.”

Frost scoffed. “I think you might have

offended me, officer. Hero and I are upstanding
citizens of Rockton. I can’t tell you the last time I
had a run-in with the law.”

Ransom locked eyes with Frost. “May first,

twenty seventeen. You were drunk and disorderly.
You rode a pink Power Wheels Jeep from the
clubhouse to the gas station for a case of beer and
whiskey. You should have gotten a DUI but you
managed to talk your way out of that.”

“He’s good,” Frost mumbled under his breath.
We weren’t getting anywhere going back and

forth. The Devil’s Knights didn’t want any
problems with the police.

I shifted forward and held up my hands.

“Look, we didn’t kill Bunny. She worked for the
club. We want to know what happened to her and
why.”

“And as soon as we find that out, we’ll let you

know. Let us do our job. We don’t want you
popping up everywhere you are. You keep doing it,
and we’ll bring you in for obstructing an
investigation.”

That was some fucking bullshit right there. We

weren’t doing anything to mess with the

investigation.

The door to the interrogation room swung

open.

A guy who looked younger than Frost and me

stood in the doorway. He was dressed the same as
Ransom in dress slacks, button down shirt, and butt
ass ugly shoes. Was there a dress code around here
that they all needed to look like shit? “We got
another one,” the kid panted.

“What?” Ransom barked.
“Over off Highland road.”
Ransom pointed his finger at me. “You stay

here,” he ordered.

Frost and I exchanged a look. I stood and

straightened my cut. “Well, I think we’re done
here, Ransom. You did, after all, tell us we were
free to go whenever we wanted.”

Ransom shot up and rounded the table. He

stood toe-to-toe with me and got in my face. “You
need to go back to your little motorcycle club and
leave the investigating to the professionals. You
catch my drift?”

I smiled. “I hear you loud and clear,

Detective.” I slid my sunglasses over my eyes and
turned to Frost. “I think I feel like taking the long
way back to the clubhouse. How about you?”

Frost chuckled. “Sounds good to me. Maybe

we could pick up some dinner at Bruno’s on the
way.”

Ransom slammed his fist on the table and

stormed out.

“Guess he doesn’t like Bruno’s,” I laughed.
“What’s not to like about the best restaurant

on Highland road?” Frost asked.

Reva

“Excellent call getting to-go.” Greta grabbed a

mozzarella stick and popped it into her mouth.

“I have good ideas every now and then.” I

took a sip of my water and tucked my feet under
my butt.

Greta and I were camped out in front of the

living room TV with a huge spread from the local
Italian place. I hadn’t thought we ordered a lot, but
there was no way we were going to be able to eat
everything. Even if Hero didn’t come over until
tomorrow, there would be plenty of food for him.

“So, spill the beans on how you met Hero. I

didn’t even know you existed until last night.”

I laughed and dunked my mozzarella stick in

the marinara. “Huh, one of the dogs I was grooming
escaped and decided to go check out the backyard
of the clubhouse. Turns out Barbara the poodle
really liked Hero. He helped me bring her back to
the shop.”

“Figures,” Greta cackled. “The bitches love

Hero.”

“It seems that all dogs like Hero,” I giggled.
Greta set her empty plate on the coffee table.

“I do remember when he was younger, he always
had a dog following him around as he got into
trouble.”

“Greta,” I laughed, “he’s like seven years

older than you. When he was little, you weren’t
even born.”

She scoffed and shook her head. “Girl, I’m

talking when he was like fourteen and fifteen. He
was always running around with Frost even though
Frost was like three or four years younger than
him.”

“You really all grew up together?”
Greta nodded. “Sure as shit did. Not like we

really had much choice in the matter. With all of
our dads being in the club and then our moms being
best friends, we were just always at the clubhouse.”

“Sounds like fun to me.”
“For the most part, it was. There were times

we got on each other's nerves. I still remember
when Jonas was eight and he punched Pie right in
the nuts.” Greta cackled. “Oh, God, that was the
funniest thing ever. After he did it, Jonas thought he
killed Pie because he dropped to the ground and
moaned like a cow in heat. He thought King was
going to kick his ass for killing Pie.”

“I don’t think I’ve met Jonas yet.” Hell, I

hadn’t really met many of the guys in the club.
Snapper and Frost were basically it.

“Oh, shit.” Greta waved her hand. “Forget I

said that. I forgot he has a road name now. He’ll
always just be Jonas to me. Snapper punched Pie in
the nuts.”

“Oh, I met him. He was at the door of Sultry

Knights last night.” Though now I knew his real
name was Jonas. Greta was spilling biker secrets.

“Yeah, he’s a good kid. His dad was in the

club, and he died in an accident when he was only
three. King and Meg adopted him along with
basically the whole club.”

Well, damn. That was awful. “Wow. That’s

crazy.”

Greta grabbed a breadstick and pointed it at

me. “Enough about the club. Let’s talk about you
and Hero. What was with the long face after you
got off the phone with him?” she asked.

I sighed and pushed around the last bite of

lasagna with my fork. “He just was kind of short
with me. I know I’m being overly sensitive, but I
didn’t really see it coming.”

“I’m assuming the reason why he ditched you

tonight was for club business, right?”

I shrugged. “I think so. He just said he was

doing something and that something came up and
he couldn’t come.”

“No other detail than that?”
“Nope.”
“Club business.” Greta rolled her eyes. “Girl,

I’m going to tell you right now there aren’t going to
be any other words you hate more than those for
however long you’re with Hero.”

“I’m not with Hero,” I pointed out.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Why would

you say you aren’t?”

“Huh, well, the most obvious reason why

we’re not together is because we’ve barely known
each other for a week.”

She waved her hand at me. “Time means

nothing to these guys. I know all of the stories of
King, Rigid, Demon, Slider,” she rattled off. “The
only one who wasn’t wham bam thank you ma’am
was Gravel, but that was only because Ether was
married when he got the hots for her.”

“Uh, huh?” The only name I knew was

King, but I had never met him.

“You’ll learn the names soon enough. That’s

not my point.” She tucked her legs beneath her and
turned on the couch to face me. “All you need to
know is these guys may come off as assholes
sometimes and bark about club business, but at the
end of the day, all they want is a woman to come
home to. And when they meet that woman, nothing
else matters. Time, pfft. For these guys, one day is
like a month. As far as Hero is concerned, it

probably feels like four months that you’ve known
each other. They live hard and love even harder,
Reva.”

I waved my hand in her face. “Hold up. No

one said anything about love. We were talking
about me being with him.”

Greta sighed. “Jesus. This is so hard for people

outside of the club to get. Let me just put it this
way. These guys see what they like and they take it.
That’s it. Hero saw you. Liked you. Now you’re
his.” She sat back and folded her arms over her
chest. “You’ll be much better off if you just accept
it. I mean, as long as you like him, too. If you don’t,
then you better change the locks and tell him to get
lost,” she advised.

“Uh, well. I don’t want him to get lost, but I’m

not too sure about throwing that L word around.” I
just wanted things to slow down. A little. Teeny tiny
bit.

“Then you might as well buckle in and just

hold on, sugar, because as hard as it is for you to
wrap your head around, you’ve been claimed by
the biker.”

My head swirled with everything Greta had

just said. Water wasn’t going to cut it tonight. I had
said I wasn’t drinking, but maybe a glass of wine
would help me process what she had said a little bit
better.

I gathered the empty plates and headed into

the kitchen.

“Finally,” Greta called. “Luna is calling.”
I heard her say “hello,” and I dropped the

plates into the sink. Greta had mentioned she had
invited Luna over for dinner but didn’t say if she
was going to come or not.

“What? Slow down, Luna,” she shouted.
I reached for the bottle of wine on the counter,

but froze at Greta’s panicked tone.

“Did you call the police?”
Oh, hell.
“We’re on the way.” Greta skidded into the

kitchen with her phone in her hand. “We gotta go.”

“Uh, okay.” I switched directions and grabbed

my shoes from the door. “Can I ask what is going
on?”

Greta shoved her feet into her sandals and had

her phone to her ear again. “Luna. One of her girls
didn’t come in tonight. She went over to check on
her.”

Oh no. I had heard a story like this not even

three days ago. “And?” I asked.

Luna’s eyes connected with mine. “She was

dead.”

Chapter Fourteen

Hero

“What in the hell?”
Greta’s car careened into the parking lot of

Bruno’s and screeched to a halt in front of Frost
and me.

Greta shot out of the car. “Oh, my God!”
“What in the hell are you doing here?” Frost

asked. “You listen to police scanners now or
something?”

I peered into the windshield. Reva sat there

and gave me a wave.

Fucking hell. “You wanna tell me why you

thought it was a good idea to bring my woman to a
crime scene?”

Greta scoffed. “We wanted to make sure Luna

was okay. She called us five minutes ago.”

Of fucking course. I should have known Luna

would run to Greta and tell her. I just didn’t think
she would do it when she was being questioned by
the police.

“Luna is fine,” Frost clarified. “The same

cannot be said for Tanya.”

“Oh, my God,” Greta gasped.
I walked to the passenger door and knocked

on the glass. “You gonna come out or just decided

to go along for the ride?” I called to Reva.

She smiled sheepishly. “I just realized this

might not have been the best idea,” she shouted
back.

Now she thought of that after she drove with

Greta to a crime scene. I opened the door and
motioned for her to get out. “You’re already here,
Sunshine. Might as well get out.” I held out my
hand to her, and she grabbed it.

“This seemed like a much better idea when I

didn’t see police lights everywhere.” She moved
close to me and kept her hand in mine.

Across the street, the whole apartment

complex had been taped off, and no one was being
allowed in or out of the building.

Frost and I had kept our distance across the

street but knew what was going on because Luna
had called us before the police started questioning
her.

Another waitress from the club was dead, and

Luna found this one, too.

I wasn’t a cop and even I knew Luna was

looking pretty damn suspicious. Thank God she had
a fucking alibi for both murders, or she would be
really fucked.

“Why is this happening in our town?” Greta

asked.

We watched a cop move one of the barriers at

the driveway, and an ambulance drove in.

No lights.
No urgency.

“No fucking clue,” Frost growled. “Two girls

dead who work at Sultry Knights. That seems like a
coincidence or a fucking pattern.”

I was thinking the same damn thing. As soon

as Luna had told me Tanya was dead, my stomach
dropped. Someone was killing the waitresses at
Sultry Knights, and we had no fucking idea why.

“Did either of you know Tanya?” I asked Frost

and Greta.

Greta shook her head. “Last night was my first

night back in a long time. I don’t know any of the
girls, and Tanya called out last night.”

Frost shook his head. “I knew who she was

but just like Bunny, I didn’t really know her.”

We again knew absolutely fucking nothing.
My gut told me to wait to call King, but I had

done that last time and gotten my balls busted for it.
I pulled out my phone out and hit send.

I hated to admit it, but I was out of my league.
Reva looked up at me.
“I’ll be right back.”
I walked away from the group and waited for

the call to connect.

“Yo.”
Half of me hoped he wouldn’t answer and I

wouldn’t need to tell him there was another dead
girl.

“King.”
The line was silent. I swallowed and waited for

him to say something.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded.
Of course he would know something was

wrong by me saying one fucking word. How in the
hell did he do that? “Uh, well, I’m over on
Highland road by Bruno’s.”

“You calling to tell me what you’re eating for

dinner?”

I cleared my throat. “No. I was calling to tell

you across the street from Bruno’s, another one of
the waitresses from Sultry Knights was murdered.”

“Mother fucking son of a bitch,” King

thundered.

I shared the same sentiment. “I don’t know

much other than what I just told you. The police are
still inside the apartment.”

“Well, thank fuck you grew some fucking

common sense and called me right away.’

It was more like I didn’t want to get my ass

chewed, but if he wanted to think that, that was
fine. “Luna found the body. Again.”

“Oh, my Christ. What in the hell are you

doing? Fucking finding bodies like they’re damn
Easter eggs.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the analogy. It was

pretty accurate. “I don’t know what you want me
to do right now.” I hated admitting it. I wanted to

be the guy who always knew what needed to be
done and did it without hesitating. For now, that
was still King.

“Let me get this fucking spaceship to Arizona

and then I’ll be there. Meg is going to have to
fucking deal with tooling around Arizona with Ethel
and the rest of the girls.” He covered the phone and
mumbled something. “I’ll call you tomorrow and let
you know when to expect us. For now, just keep
your eyes on everyone connected to Sultry
Knights.”

“You want me to shut it down?” I asked.

Sultry Knights was a big money maker for the club.
Shutting it down might hurt our money flow, but
maybe it would keep people from getting murdered.

“Yeah. We don’t know what is going on,

and we can’t keep the club open knowing there is a
murderer out there.”

“All right. Once the cops finish questioning

Luna, we’ll head over there and close it up.”

King groaned. “Fucking shit-show as soon as I
go on vacation.”

I didn’t know what to say. He was right, but

it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t anyone's fault except
for the person who had killed Bunny and now
Tanya.

“Keep everyone safe until I get there, Hero.”

He ended the call, and I sighed.

That went a little better than the last time I

had talked to him.

“Yo,” Frost called. He pointed across the

street. Luna ducked under the barrier and jogged
toward us.

I moved back to Reva. She reached for my

hand and threaded her fingers through mine. I
squeezed her hand to let her know I was there.

“What the hell kind of police do we have in

Rockton, huh?” Luna grumbled. “Detective Stick-
Up-His-Ass was about to arrest me just because I
found Tanya’s body. I mean really.”

“Ransom?” Frost asked me.
It had to be. “I’m sure it was him. He was

probably taking out his frustrations with Frost and
me on you.”

Luna huffed and folded her arms over her

chest. “I just found one of my waitresses murdered,
and he was basically telling me I had done it. Has
the dude not heard of innocent until proven guilty?”

“Ms. Wendt.” Detective Ransom called. He

jogged across the street.

“What now?” Luna whispered. “You can call

me Luna,” she said when he was standing in front
of her. “Like I told you three times in the
apartment.”

“Luna,” Ransom said. “I’m gonna need you to

come down to the station. We have a few more
questions to go over.”

Luna closed her eyes and tipped her head

back. “Are you for real?” she whispered. “What
more do you have to ask me? I have an alibi.”

“One that we haven’t actually checked out

yet,” Ransom pointed out.

“How long is she going to be at the station

for?” I asked.

Ransom glanced at me. “However long it

takes.”

Yeah, this guy was a dick. “She doesn’t have

to go with you. She’s not under arrest or anything.”

“No, not yet,” Ransom drawled.
“I did not kill Bunny and Tanya,” Luna

shouted in Ransom’s face.

“Think you can actually prove that? Pretty

suspicious finding both bodies.”

Luna raised her foot and stomped down right

on Ransom’s ugly ass shoe. “I didn’t kill anyone!”

Ransom grabbed her by the arm and twisted it

behind her back.

“What are you doing?” Reva gasped.
“You’re under arrest for assaulting an officer,”

Ransom grunted.

Fucking hell. Luna had gone and done it with

her fucking temper. There wasn’t a way in hell I
could get her out of this one. Reva moved to Luna,
but I kept her by my side. “No, Sunshine,” I
whispered.

Reva looked up at me pleading for me to do

something.

Greta reached out and laid a hand on

Ransom’s arm. Frost grabbed her hand and pulled
her back.

Ransom glared at Greta. “Smart move,” he

grunted. “Otherwise you two could have shared a
cell at the jail.”

“We don’t want any trouble, Ransom,” Frost

replied.

“Well, you should have mentioned that to her

before she decided to stomp on my foot.” Ransom
twisted her around.

“Call Rod,” Luna called. Ransom hauled her

across the street and over to a squad car. Another
officer took her from Ransom and placed her in the
backseat.

We watched the officer drive away with Luna

in the back of the car.

“Well, that was a twist I didn’t see coming,”

Frost sighed. “Now not only do we have to figure
out who killed Bunny and Tanya, we also have to
bail Luna out of jail.”

Leave it to Luna to take a shitty situation and

make it into complete hell.

Reva tipped her head back and looked up at

me. “Who’s Rod?”

“Lawyer,” I grunted. Rod had done work for

the club before. Luna was the one who used him
the most and was on a first name basis with him. I
pulled up his number in my phone and put it to my

ear. “Rod?” I said when he answered. “She’s done
it again.”

Chapter Fifteen

Reva

“Are you hungry?” I looked down at the

coffee table. “I think this should all still be okay.”

Hero grabbed a breadstick. “Starving.” He ate

the stick in three bites and grabbed another.
“Tired?” he asked me.

I stifled a yawn with the back of my hand.

“Yes and no. I keep yawning, but I feel like I could
run five miles right now.”

It was half past eleven, and as hard as Rod had

tried, he couldn’t get Luna out of jail. On top of
that, it was Friday and she couldn’t see the judge
until Monday. Luna was going to have to spend the
weekend in the clink. While Rod had been trying to
get Detective Ransom to not press charges, Frost
and Greta had headed off to Sultry Knights to shut
it down and move all of the girls to the clubhouse.

“I’m staying the night,” Hero stated.
“Oh yeah?” I laughed. “You don’t want to

stay at the clubhouse with all of those girls? Sounds
like a hetro man’s fantasy. Trapped with nine
strippers and eleven waitresses.”

Hero shook his head and walked into the

kitchen. “No, that sounds like hell to me.”

I followed behind him and leaned against the

wall between the kitchen and living room. I
watched him open the fridge and pull out a beer.
“You don’t have to humor me, Hero,” I laughed.

He popped the top and took a long drink, then

he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’m
not shitting you, Reva.” Ope. He used my real
name. I had figured out when he called me Reva he
was being serious. “Now go ask Zig and Zag and
I'm sure they’ll tell you they are in Heaven. Also
Easy.”

“What about Frost?” I asked. He was the

only guy I had actually spent a little bit of time
with.

“He’s probably happy to have one or two

there but all of them? Fuck no.” Hero finished his
beer and tossed the bottle in the garbage.

“You want some more food?” I asked.
“I’m good for now.”
Hero helped me clean up the leftover food

and wash the dishes.

A knock sounded on the door, and I froze in

place. I glanced at the clock and saw it was almost
midnight.

Hero pointed at me. “Don’t move.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I nodded,

and he moved to the door.

He looked through the peephole and

growled.

“Who is it?” I whispered.

Hero looked over his shoulder at me. “Your
fucking neighbor.”

I frowned, shocked. “Harry?”
Hero opened the door and blocked my view

of Harry.

“Can I help you?” Hero grunted.
“Uh, I… Uh…” Harry stumbled over his

words.

“It’s midnight, and I was about to go to bed

with my woman. Did you need something? Cup of
sugar or some bullshit?”

“No, sorry.”
Hero slammed the door and threw the

deadbolt.

“You slammed the door in his face?” I

asked.

Hero turned around and stalked over to me.

“He took off like a scared fucking rabbit, Reva. He
was at his door when I slammed it.”

Oh, well. “But what did he want?” I

pondered.

“No fucking clue. I told you that guy was

fucking weird. That just proved it.” Hero grabbed
my hand. “Bed, Sunshine.”

He flipped off the kitchen lights and pulled

me down the hallway to the bedroom. “Aren’t you
the least bit curious what Harry wanted?” I asked.
Harry had never knocked on my door before, and
suddenly, at midnight, he was standing there.

Hero let go of my hand and took off his cut.

He set it on the dresser and then pulled his shirt
over his head.

Well, hel-lo.
“No. I have enough to worry about right

now. The guy is weird but what was he gonna do?
He saw my bike was here so he knew I was going
to answer the door.”

I blinked and tried to figure out what Hero

was talking about. I studied the tattoo on his chest
and sighed.

“Reva,” Hero called.
I ripped my eyes off his chest. “Uh yeah?”
“Did you hear anything I just said?”
Heard it, yes. Comprehend it, not at all. “Can

you repeat it? I was distracted by your…” I waved
my hand at his chest, “that.”

Hero chuckled and grabbed my hand again.

He laid it on his chest and closed the distance
between us. “I think we’re done talking for the
night.”

I heard that loud and clear.
His mouth descended onto mine, and he

wrapped his arms around my waist and hoisted me
up into his arms.

I wrapped my legs around his waist. “This is

nice.”

Hero chuckled. “Anytime you’re touching me

is nice, Sunshine.” He walked to the bed and laid

me down. He placed a knee in the mattress and
covered me with his body.

I trailed my fingers over the tattoos on his

chest. “I like these,” I whispered.

He grabbed my hand and pressed a kiss to my

fingertips. “I’m glad you approve because I don’t
know what I’d do if you didn’t.”

A giggle bubbled from my lips. “Just as long as

there isn’t an old girlfriend’s name somewhere in
there.”

He shook his head. “Hell no, Sunshine.”
I planted my elbows in the mattress and lifted

up to push a kiss to his lips. “Is it weird I was
jealous for the half a second it took for you to say
hell no?” Yeah, that had reared its head for a
second, and I had no idea where it came from.

Hero chuckled but didn’t say anything. He

pushed me back down onto the bed and pressed
kisses down my neck. “No more talking, Sunshine,”
he growled. He wrapped his arms around me and
rolled us ‘til I was lying on top of him. He pulled
my shirt over my head and tossed it on the floor.

“Well, shit.”
I sat back and looked down at my bra. Yeah, it

was one of my sexy pretty ones. “You like?” I
asked.

Hero jackknifed up and wrapped his arms

around me. He buried his face in my cleavage and
groaned. I guess that was a yes.

“Pretty sure dark green is my favorite color

now,” he mumbled.

Yeah, this was going to be my favorite bra

from now on. The lace cups were see-through. and
it was trimmed with black satin.

Hero reached behind me and deftly undid the

hooks. “This is in my way.”

I slipped it down my arms and dropped it on

the floor. “Problem solved.”

Hero chuckled and palmed both of my breasts.

“Perfect,” he grunted.

If there was one word a guy could say when

he’s touching a woman’s breasts, it should be
perfect. Hero leaned forward and kissed the swell
of my breast. A moan escaped my lips, and I delved
my fingers into his hair. He pushed me back and
covered me with his body again. My feet were on
the pillows, and my head was at the foot of the bed.

I roamed my hands over his bare back, and his

mouth devoured my breast while his fingers
touched and explored.

He popped open the button on my jeans and

shimmied them down my legs. His mouth left my
breasts, and he leaned down to pull my pants all the
way off.

That was where things went wild. I needed to

touch every inch of Hero, and I had to do it right
away. His pants went flying. He hooked my panties
with his thumb, and they sailed through the room

along with his underwear.

His mouth found the sweet bud of my pussy,

and he sucked deep. My hips shot off the mattress,
and I gripped his head.

“Oh, my God,” I gasped, clamping my eyes

shut, and colors flashed behind my eyelids. My
orgasm washed over me, and my fingers gripped
the sheets.

Hero didn’t give me time to come down. His

mouth disappeared from my pussy, and he climbed
back up my body. He grabbed my hand and placed
it on his dick.

I didn’t need to be told what to do. I wrapped

my fingers around the hard shaft and squeezed. He
groaned under my touch, and I literally had him
right in the palm of my hand. I stroked his dick,
slowly moving up and down, while he pressed a
kiss to my lips. I sucked his bottom lip into my
mouth, and he moaned.

I cocked my legs open and guided him into my

pussy. He entered me slowly and pushed in ‘til he
bottomed out. I raised my hands over my head and
watched in awe as Hero thrust in and out of me. His
groans and moans mingled with my panting as my
orgasm built again.

“Harder,” I moaned.
Hero slammed into me, and his face contorted

with pleasure. His finger teased my clit, and my
eyes rolled back in my head. I closed them, unable

to keep them open any longer, and fell completely
into a bottomless pit of pleasure.

My orgasm crashed into me, ripping a moan

from my lips. Hero called out my name and shoved
into me. My pussy milked his cock, and he came
inside me. He pulled out once more and then
pushed back in before he collapsed on top of me,
his breathing labored.

I lowered my arms from above my head and

wrapped them around him.

He rolled us over and tucked me into his side.
“That just happened,” I gasped.
“Yeah, I was there, Sunshine.”
Even after two amazing orgasms, I still spoke

the stupid with Hero around. “Not even getting up
to turn the light off.”

Hero chuckled. “Sunshine.” He rolled to the

side of the bed, hopped up, flipped off the light, and
slid back in next to me. “Now you have to make
breakfast in the morning.”

“Is that the unspoken deal made with you

having to turn the light off?” I giggled.

He pulled me close and pressed a kiss to the

side of my head. “Yeah. From here forward,
whoever doesn’t turn the light off has to make the
next meal.”

“Now you’re just making stuff up.” I laid my

head on his shoulder and sighed. “Though I guess I
can make breakfast in the morning.”

“Good. I’ve been craving one of your bacon

sandwiches,” he grunted.

“Oh,” I laughed, “so now you like them after

you made fun of them before.”

“I didn’t make fun of it, Sunshine, I just didn’t

understand them.”

I rolled my eyes and reached up blindly. I

tapped his cheek. “You’re so full of it.”

He grabbed my hands and pressed a kiss to the

palm. “I’m full of it, and you’re a nut. We go good
together.”

I yawned and closed my eyes. “If you say so.”

The adrenaline rush from earlier was finally
wearing off. “Can we have just a chill day
tomorrow with no craziness? Just one day?”

Hero laughed. “I’m hoping so, Sunshine. I got

a few phone calls to make in the morning, and then,
I’m all yours.”

I hummed happily. “Sounds perfect.”

Chapter Sixteen

Hero

“Hero.”
I cracked open one eye. “Huh?”
Reva was sitting on the edge of the bed with

the blanket pulled up to her neck. “Someone just
knocked on the door.”

What in the fuck? I looked at the clock on the

nightstand. It was eight thirty on a Saturday. Wasn’t
it an unwritten law that you didn’t knock on
people’s doors before eleven on a Saturday? “Are
you expecting anyone?” I grunted.

“No. I told my other boyfriend I was busy

today.”

“Ha, ha,” I growled.
Reva bent over and held up my underwear.

“You want these?” She tossed them at me without
an answer and then darted into the bathroom.

“You running so I don’t see you naked?” I

chuckled. I pulled on my underwear and ran my
fingers through my hair.

“You were dripping down my leg,” she

shouted.

Oh. Oh yeah. “Sorry, Sunshine. I should have

grabbed you a towel last night.”

A knock sounded on the front door again.

Whoever was there was determined to get the door
open. I pulled on my jeans and forgoed a shirt.

I strutted to the front door and threw it open

without looking in the peephole.

“What do you want?” I grunted.
A man and woman stood there, and their jaws

dropped at the sight of me. The man had white hair
and was wearing a fishing vest over a plaid shirt.
The woman had on khaki shorts and a pink polo
shirt. They looked like they were headed fishing
though they were standing on Reva’s doorstep.

“Who in the hell are you?” the guy demanded.
The woman looked me up and down, and then,

she smiled. It wasn’t a pervy smile, though. It was
Reva’s smile on the woman’s face.

Oh, shit.
“Reva!” I called.
I had just answered the door to Reva’s parents

with no shirt on and demanded to know who they
were. That was a great first impression.

“Coming!” she called. Her tone was light, and

I knew she had no idea what she was about to walk
in on.

I stepped to the side and held the door wide.
They walked in, and her mom headed to the

kitchen while her dad stayed with me. He glowered
at me, and I wished like hell I had put a shirt on.

“Dad!” Reva exclaimed. Thank God she had

managed to put on sweats before she walked out of

the bedroom. We both looked like we had just
rolled out of bed.

“What in the hell is going on, Reva?” he

demanded.

“Brian,” her mom scolded from the kitchen.

“Where are your manners?”

“Probably wherever his shirt is,” he grunted.

Reva’s mom tsked. “Why don’t we try this

over?” she suggested. She walked out of the
kitchen with a bag of bagels in her hand.

“Mom, what are you doing with my

bagels?” Reva asked.

I was glad I wasn’t the only one confused

by that.

“I thought we could have some breakfast.

Your dad and I stopped before we headed to the
lake.” She turned to me and held out her hand that
didn’t have the bagels in it. “I’m Shirley. That bear
over there is Brain. We’re Reva’s parents.”

She beamed up at me, and I shook her hand.
“Uh, nice to meet you, ma’am.” At least it

seemed her mom was okay with me. Reva’s dad, on
the other hand just glared.

“I put your shirt on the dresser,” Reva

chirped.

“Thanks. I’ll be right back.” I ducked into the

bedroom and spotted the shirt where Reva said she
had put it. I pulled it over my head and groaned.

I didn’t even get my eyes open before shit

started going sideways.

Relaxed Saturday, my ass.

Reva

My eyes darted to the bedroom.
I pursed my lips and pointed to the kitchen.

“Get in there,” I whispered.

“Reva,” Mom whined, “what are you doing?”
I ushered both of them into the kitchen and

grabbed the bagels from her hand. “What am I
doing?” I demanded. “What in the world are you
doing? You guys never stop by without letting me
know you’re coming.”

Mom rolled her eyes and grabbed the bagels

back. “We called. You didn’t answer.”

“Why didn’t you answer the phone?” Dad

grunted.

“I was sleeping,” I hissed. I had woken up in

the twilight zone. Hero in my bed and my parents
on my doorstep was not what I had wanted when I
said a mellow day.

“Since when do you sleep in?” Dad grumbled.
Mom grabbed the eggs from the fridge.

“Brain. She can sleep in if she wants. Maybe she
had a long night.”

Oh. My. God. Did my mom just hint that I had

a long night because…I couldn’t even put Mom
and sex in the same thought.

She reached into the freezer and grabbed the

pack of bacon I was going to use for the bacon
sandwiches Hero had told me he wanted.

“Shirley,” Dad grunted, “I am going to pretend

that you did not just say that.”

Even Dad wasn’t good with what Mom was

insinuating.

“What are you doing here?” I asked again.
“Is that his bike out there?” Dad asked,

completely ignoring my question. “Does he have a
helmet?”

I closed my eyes and prayed to get a grip on

the spiraling conversation. “Yes, Dad, that is his
bike. He has a helmet.”

“Got that MC emblem on it. He part of the

club?”

How had he noticed that? I didn’t even know

that Hero had an emblem on his bike for the club.

“Yes, sir.” Hero walked into the kitchen with

his shirt on and his hair tamed. He held his hand out
to Dad. “Sorry about before, sir. Reva and I
weren’t expecting company.”

Dad shook his hand but eyed him warily.

“Brian,” he grunted. “How long have you been
with the club?”

“Uh, officially? Since I was eighteen. I grew

up there, though. My dad is Rigid.”

Recognition shone in Dad’s eyes. “Ah, I’ve

known Rigid for a while. He’s worked on my truck
before.”

Wait, what? My dad knew Rigid?
“He’s a pretty good mechanic, sir. Also damn

good at painting.”

Dad laughed. “That I know, too. Shirley

scraped the side of her car last year and he was
able to match the paint perfectly.”

My jaw dropped. Hero’s dad had been the one

to repair mom’s car after she ran into the mailbox?

“Tan Cadillac?” Hero asked.
“Why yes,” Mom gasped, “how did you

know?”

Hero ran his fingers through his hair, and I

swear to God, he blushed! “Uh, I helped him out.
Most of his repairs, I help with.”

My jaw hit the floor. Hero knew how to fix

cars and stuff? My parents were finding out more
about Hero in five minutes than I knew in six days.

I held up a finger. “Could you just excuse us

for a second?” I grabbed Hero’s hand and pulled
him down the hall and into my bedroom. I closed
the door and stood toe-to-toe with him.

“What?” I whisper shouted. I needed to

elaborate more. “What is going on? You work at
the repair shop?” There. That was better than just
what.

“Sometimes,” he shrugged. “With Dad gone,

I’ve got other things I’m in charge of now.”

“I know absolutely nothing about you. What

stuff are you doing now?” I demanded.

Hero laughed. “Sunshine, I don’t think we

have time for this with your parents standing in
your kitchen.”

I waved a hand toward the kitchen. “Mom is

making breakfast, and Dad will turn on the TV. We
have at least ten minutes before they come looking
for us.” Maybe this was the pressure we needed for
us to find out more about each other. “Rigid is your
dad,” I stated.

“Uh, yup.”
“He is a mechanic and all around car magician

according to my dad.”

Hero laughed. “He’s good at what he does.”
“Who is your mom?” I didn’t need to walk out

there and have my mom suddenly start talking
about how she knew Hero’s mom.

“Cyn.”
“Sin? As in like sinning?”
Hero shook his head. “Cyn as in Cynthia,

Sunshine.”

Okay. That made more sense than sin. “Do

you have any siblings?”

“Uh, not blood.”
“What does that mean?” I demanded. That

should have been an easy answer. Instead, it was
complicated.

“Sunshine, I grew up around the club. The

guys in the club are like my brothers, and Luna and
Greta are like my sisters. Not blood, but they are
family.”

“That’s sweet, but you made that answer so

much more complicated than it needed to be.”

Hero laughed.
I wagged my finger in his face. “Stop laughing

at me. These are serious questions I need to know
so I don’t look like an idiot.”

His face sobered.
“What are you in the club?” I hoped that

question made sense.

“Uh, well. That’s another complicated answer.

Right now, I’m just a member, but with King and
the rest of the older members in Arizona, I’m in
charge.”

“You’re the president?” Say what?
“Yes and no. This is kind of like my tryout.

Two waitresses ending up dead and Luna in jail
isn’t looking very good for me right now, though.”

“None of that is your fault, though,” I argued.
“Take that up with King, Sunshine. Two days

after he leaves, all hell breaks loose and I’m the
one holding the gavel.”

Not fair. “So what happens now?”
“Uh, King said he’s gonna get the RV to

Arizona and then he’s flying back. I’m assuming
some, if not all, of the other guys are coming back,

too.”

“So your shot is over?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t really know. I

don’t know what King is going to be able to do, but
he thinks coming back will fix things.” He reached
up and brushed my hair behind my ear.
“Interrogation over?”

I didn’t really have any other questions. At

least that I could think of. “I suppose.”

“Is your mom making us breakfast?”
I leaned into his hand. “I’m assuming so. She’s

the one who taught me how to make bacon
sandwiches, though. I promise whatever she makes
it’ll be good.”

“You had to be taught how to make bacon

sandwiches?” Hero laughed.

I whacked him on the shoulder. “Rude,” I

whined.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me close. “So

what happens after your mom makes us breakfast?”

“I’m assuming they are going to head to the

lake. I talked her into looking for a new cabin to
buy so she would get off Dad’s back about fishing
all of the time. She putters around a new cabin
decorating and whatnot while Dad gets his fishing
time in.”

“She fell for it hook, line, and sinker, huh?”
I closed my eyes. “Lame.” Totally a joke I

would have made, though.

Hero’s palm cradled my face, and I opened my

eyes.

“Let’s go eat breakfast with your parents and

see what the day has in store for us.” He pressed a
soft kiss to my lips. “It can’t be worse than Luna
getting arrested and another waitress dying, right?”

“You’re jinxing us,” I mumbled.
Hero led the way back to the kitchen when all

I really wanted to do was fall back into bed and not
wake up until Sunday.

“There you two are,” Mom sang. “Dad turned

on a game and the bacon is almost done.”

I smirked knowingly at Hero. I said my parents

would do that exact thing. I grabbed two coffee
cups and filled each. “So, what are you and Dad up
to today?” I handed Hero his cup, and I opened the
fridge for the creamer.

“We found a cabin with five acres the other

day. We have a showing at noon. We thought we
would stop by and see if you wanted to come with
us.” She cleared her throat. “We didn’t know you
would have company, though.”

“Where at?” Hero asked.
“Harris Lake. Best fishing around,” Dad

shouted from the living room.

“We found a cute four-bedroom right on the

lake.” Mom tossed two pieces of bread in the
toaster. “If it looks as nice as the pictures, we’re
gonna put an offer in.”

“Four bedrooms? That’s bigger than your

house.”

“Tell her,” Dad boomed.
Mom cracked two eggs into the pan and

sprinkled salt and pepper on them. “Uh, well, your
Dad and I were thinking of, well, selling the house
and just living at the cabin.”

“Really?”
Mom glanced at me. “Yeah. We think it’s time

for a change.”

I couldn’t really argue with that. Mom and

Dad still lived in my childhood home. It had only
two bedrooms and was on a tiny lot. The house was
nice, but it was definitely dated. “Falls City is an
hour away.”

“And you have a car. You can come visit

whenever you want,” Mom chided. “You were the
one who told me to start looking at cabins, Rev.”

I had, but it was to help Dad get Mom off his

back. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Mom flipped the eggs in the pan. “Your

dad can fish all he wants, and I can spend my time
decorating the place and going to the little thrift
shops in town.”

“Well, I mean, that does sound kind of great

for you guys.”

“Told ya,” Dad drawled.
“Oh, shut up, Brian. Come get your eggs.”

Mom grabbed a plate and slid the eggs on it. Dad

trudged into the kitchen. He grabbed the plate,
picked three pieces of bacon, and waited ‘til Mom
finished buttering the two pieces of toast.

Hero had camped out on one of the barstools

and was just watching Mom and Dad. I sat down
next to him and sighed. Finding out Mom and Dad
were moving to Falls City did not fall under the
category of having a chill Saturday. Hero reached
over and rested his hand on my thigh. “Smile,
Sunshine,” he whispered.

I stuck my tongue out at him.
He shook his head and smirked.
Dad headed back into the living room, and

Mom finally turned from the stove. “So, what will
you two have?”

Hero threw me a wink. “Reva told me you are

the originator of the bacon sandwich.”

Smartass.

Chapter Seventeen

Hero

“What time does she see the judge?”
I filled Reva’s coffee cup and pushed it toward

her. She grabbed the creamer and added a glug to
the cup.

“Eleven thirty. Rod said she should be

bailed out by noon as long as she keeps her mouth
shut and does what he told her to.”

“What did Rod tell her to do?” she asked.
“Keep her mouth shut.”
Reva cringed. “I’ve only known Luna a short

time, but isn’t that pretty hard for her?”

It sure was. Part of me didn’t think she would

be granted bail and would have to sit in jail for a
while. Ransom would be happy as hell to see that
happen. “Time will tell.”

After Reva’s parents had left Saturday

morning, things were surprisingly quiet. I had left
for a little bit Saturday night to grab dinner and had
detoured to the club to make sure everything was
under control with all the girls staying there.
Thankfully, with half of the club vacationing in
Arizona, there were plenty of beds for everyone.
Though I wasn’t sure what was going to happen
when King flew back in.

I had broken the news to King that Luna had

been arrested for stomping on Ransom, and he was
surprisingly not as pissed as I thought he would be.
Troy and Marley, Luna’s parents who were with
King, weren’t as okay about it. If she would have
been arrested on a Tuesday or Wednesday, she
would have only been in there for the night, but
since she had been arrested on a Friday night, she
had to sit there ‘til the judge came in on Monday.

Today was the day, and I just hoped Luna kept

her mouth shut.

“I’ll let you know what happens.”
Reva pushed up on her tiptoes and pressed a

kiss to my lips. “I gotta run. I’ve got a schnauzer
for my first appointment, and he always shows up
ten minutes early.”

“I thought you opened at nine? Why don’t you

just schedule the schnauzer for ten and then when
they show up early, you don’t have to be early.”

She laughed and grabbed her coffee. “His

owner has to be at work on time so I figure I can be
ten minutes early once a month.”

I grunted. “Taking my time with you away. I’ll

be over later to see this schnauzer.”

Reva laughed and grabbed her purse. “Come

visit him after Luna’s judge thingy so you can bring
me a sub.”

I gave her a two finger salute. “You got it,

Sunshine. As long as Luna doesn’t freak out on the

judge, I’ll be there around lunch.”

She breezed out the door with a wave over her

shoulder at me.

Ten minutes later, I twisted the lock on the

door handle and pulled it closed behind me. I
thought back to a week ago, before I met Reva, and
shook my head. It was crazy how much things
could change in such a short time. Now I was
thinking I needed a key to her house.

Some of those changes weren’t great, but

that was just life.

Frost had messaged me yesterday that he

found some stuff out about Tanya from the girls
staying at the clubhouse, but he didn’t think it was
anything that was going to pan out. Detective
Ransom had also gotten in touch with me and had
told me a couple of deputies were going to stop out
at the clubhouse today to talk to the girls.

This time, we had the upper hand by having

all of the girls under one roof.

We didn’t want to get in the way of the

investigation, but with two waitresses dead, we
didn’t really want to have to wait for answers.

I threw my leg over my bike and turned the

key. The engine roared to life, and I slid my
sunglasses over my eyes.

It would be ideal to get those answers before

King stepped foot on the plane to come back home,
but I was running out of time.

Chapter Eighteen

Reva

“Luna’s out of the clink, and we need to

celebrate,” Greta shouted.

I moved the phone from my ear. “Uh, that’s

great.” But did Greta have to shout it in my ear?

“Wednesday night. We’re coming to your

house because we can’t really go out because of
the waitress killing psycho on the loose.”

I grabbed the broom from the closet and swept

up the hair on the floor. “Uh, I guess that’s okay?
Hero is probably going to be there, though.”

“Boo,” Greta groaned. “He can go hangout at

the clubhouse for the night. Luna needs a night to
unwind and not have one of the guys looming over
her.”

I laughed and reached for the dustpan. “You

know he’s not going to go for that.”

“Sure, he will. You wanna know why?” she

asked.

“Uh, why?”
“Because you’re going to tell him if he gives

us one girl’s night at your place then he gets
unlimited blowjobs for the rest of his life.”

“Greta,” I laughed, “you’re crazy.”
“I am, but you know it’s going to work.” A

beep sounded on the line. “I gotta go. I’ll see you
Wednesday, seven pm No boys allowed!”

The call ended, and I dropped the phone on

the front counter.

“Unlimited blowjobs for life?”
I glared at Hero. “You would hear that.”
He shrugged and balled up the wrapper from

his sub. “I mean, I guess I’m not completely against
you having a girl’s night.” He tossed the wrapper in
the garbage. “Though I’m not staying the night at
the clubhouse. Right now, some other chick is
sleeping in my bed.”

“Oh, well,” I laughed. “I guess if you just give

us a few hours alone, I can sneak you into my
bedroom when Greta and Luna aren’t paying
attention.”

Hero snickered. “Sneaking a boy into your

bedroom. What would your parents think?”

I emptied the dustpan and dropped the broom

back in the closet. “You answered the door wearing
only jeans. I’m pretty sure my parents know I have
a boy in my bedroom now.”

“That is something I will never forget,” he

laughed. “If looks could kill, your dad would have
murdered me when I opened the door.”

The bell above the door dinged, and my next

client trotted in. “Barbara!” I called.

I don’t know why I called her name. It was

like she knew Hero was there before she even

walked in the door. She beelined straight to him and
catapulted herself at his chest.

“Barbara!” Mrs. Saunders scolded. She

yanked on Barbara’s leash, but Barb had eyes only
for Hero.

Barbara licked Hero’s face and panted

happily.

“Hello there, pretty girl,” Hero cooed.
“I’m so sorry,” Mrs. Saunders apologized. “I

don’t know what got into her, but as soon as we
pulled into the parking lot, she just started going
crazy.”

I laughed and moved over to Hero and

Barbara. “Remember how I told you the last time
she was here she escaped and I had to have
someone help me?” I reached out and scratched
Barbara behind her ear. “Hero was the one who
helped me. She’s pretty smitten with him.”

“Oh,” Mrs. Saunders laughed. “She must have

picked up your scent when we pulled in.”

Barbara whined and tried to get closer to

Hero.

“Is it okay to leave her?” Mrs. Saunders

laughed. “Not like it looks like she’ll miss me.”

I smiled as Barbara laid her head on Hero’s

shoulder. “I’m pretty sure she’ll be fine.”

Mrs. Saunders left shaking her head and

laughing.

“I still think you have sausage or something in

your pocket to make her jump on you.”

Hero snorted and crouched down on the floor

to put down. “The only sausage I have in my
pocket is for you, Sunshine.”

“Well, right now, it looks like you’re hanging

out here all afternoon because as soon as you walk
out that door, Barbara is going to try to follow
you.” I turned on the water to warm it up for Barb’s
bath.

“You really give her a haircut every week?”

He ran his hands over Barbara’s fluffy white coat.

“Trim once a month. A bath every week.” I

grabbed Barbara’s leash and tried to pull her over
to the sink. “Barbara has a penchant for digging
holes and rolling in them.”

Hero grabbed the leash from me and led her

over to the sink.

“You do know you’re going to have come

every time she has an appointment, right?”

Hero lifted her into the sink and leaned against

the wall close to Barbara’s head. “What can I say?
The bitches love me?”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the sprayer.

“You know Greta made that same joke about you?”
I pointed the sprayer at him and smiled.

“Don’t even think about it, Sunshine,” he

warned.

I laid my finger on the trigger of the hose. “Or

what?” I laughed.

“Or you’re gonna have to add something else

to that blowjob list.”

I rolled my eyes and hit the trigger. I was okay

with the forever blowjobs. And whatever else he
wanted from me, I was more than willing to give
him.

Chapter Nineteen

Hero

“I gotta swing by the clubhouse. You wanna

come with me?”

“Uh, I have my car.” Reva hitched her thumb

toward her car outside. “It’s not one of those fancy
ones that drives itself, either.”

“I’ll have Snapper drive it back to your

place.”

“Uh, he’ll do that?”
I smirked and leaned down to press a kiss to

her lips. “Sunshine, he’ll do whatever I tell him to
do.”

“Is this the alpha biker coming out in you?”

she laughed.

“Yes, but he’s a prospect. He does what any of

the full patch members tell him to do.”

Her mouth turned down into a frown. “That

doesn’t sound fun.”

“We all go through it. It’s a rite of passage into

the club. Snapper knows he needs to do it, and he’s
fine with it.”

“Well, can you please be nice when you tell

him he has to drive my car home?” She batted her
eyes at me.

“I’m gonna tell him to drive your car to your

place, not shove the keys down his throat.” Reva
might have the wrong idea about what actually
went on at the club. I was the one in charge and
telling the guys what to do, but I wasn’t walking
around the clubhouse swinging my dick like I was
King fucking Kong.

Reva slapped her keys in my hand, flipped off

the lights, and pulled the shop door closed behind
us. “Then let’s get going, handsome.”

I locked up the door, grabbed her hand, and

led her over to the bike. “I just gotta do a couple of
things and then we’ll head home.”

She rolled her eyes and grabbed the helmet off

the seat of the bike. She strapped it on and threw
her leg over the seat. “However long it takes, Hero.
You don’t need to rush just to get me home. It’s not
like we had any plans tonight.”

I hopped on the bike in front of her and started

it up. I had hoped she would have been fine going
to the club because it was where I spent a lot of my
time usually. Although, right now, I wasn’t there
much. A bunch of girls I didn’t know wandering
around wasn’t exactly ideal. I much preferred being
at Reva’s house until things get back to normal.

I drove across the parking lot and into the

clubhouse lot.

Reva laughed as she got off the motorcycle. “I

was wondering if you were going to take the long
way here.” She unsnapped the helmet and set it on

the seat.

“Next time, Sunshine.”
“Well, hell,” Easy called from the front porch.

He was smoking a cigarette and Zag was with him.
“You do know to turn left and not right.”

Zag chuckled and high-fived Easy.
Reva had been saying she wanted to meet

more of the guys, and it looked like this was going
to be her chance. I grabbed her hand and led her to
the front door.

Zag studied Reva as we walked closer. “I

know you,” he declared.

“Uh, you do?” Reva asked, unsure. She

obviously didn’t know him.

He tossed his cigarette butt on the ground,

stepped on it with the toe of his boot, and smiled
wide. “Yeah. You were two years ahead of me in
high school. Quiet, never really talked, still hot.”

Reva looked up at me. “He’s right about the

quiet.”

I laughed and shook my head. “I’m sure he’s

right about all of it.”

Easy nodded to Reva. “I don’t know you, and

I’m Easy.”

Reva waved awkwardly. “Hidy-ho. I’m

Reva.”

“I’m Zag. Seeing as you don’t remember me

from high school, I’m not going to embarrass
myself by telling you my real name.”

Reva laughed lightly. “High school wasn’t the

greatest time of my life. I don’t think I could tell
you half of the kids' names that were in my class.”

“I can respect that,” Zag laughed. “I only

remember the names of the hot chicks and the
dicks I wanted to punch in the face.”

“Please tell me you’re not bringing your girl

here to stash her away. We are at max capacity up
in here.” Easy hitched his thumb toward the
clubhouse. “The idea of living with a houseful of
strippers sounds a whole lot more appealing than
actually living with a houseful of strippers.”

I figured that was the case. Reva hadn’t

believed me when I said that sounded like Hell.
“Hopefully this won’t be for forever.”

“Yeah, “ Zag laughed. “We just have to find a

murderer and we can go back to normal. Easy.”

A pizza delivery car pulled into the parking lot

and stopped in front of the door.

“Oh, yeah,” Easy smiled, “we’re gonna

need some more money for food. These chicks eat
a whole hell of a lot more than I thought they
would.”

I rolled my eyes. “Have you tried actually

cooking something and not just ordering for every
meal?” I pulled some money from my wallet and
handed it to Easy.

“Indiana keeps bugging to go to the store

but Frost told her no.” Zag shrugged. “Maybe she

can make a list or some shit. I could run to the store
just to get the hell out of here.”

“I think that may be your first good idea,”

Easy laughed.

Zag flipped him off.
Easy handed the money to the pizza guy,

and we all grabbed a couple of boxes.

“This is a lot of pizza,” Reva whispered to

me.

I opened the door to the clubhouse and

motioned for her to go in. “Eighteen girls and six
guys. That’s a lot of people,” I laughed.

Reva followed me over to the pool table

that doubled as the dining room table when there
was a lot of food. A few girls were sitting on the
couch in front of the TV while a couple of others
were around one of the poker tables.

“Dinner,” Easy called when he walked in.

“Come and get it, ladies.”

Reva looked around with wide eyes trying to

take in everything at once. “This room is huge,” she
whispered.

It really was big, but it needed to be. I’m sure

at one point it was bigger than what was needed,
but once all of the original members started having
kids, the room shrunk. Now with eighteen women
wandering around, it was tiny.

More girls trickled down the hallway from the

bedrooms and descended on the pizza.

Zig followed behind adjusting his pants.
Zag and Easy weren’t liking the new living

arrangements, but it seemed that Zig was making
the most of it.

Reva looked from Zig and then to Zag. “Uh?

There’s two of them?” she asked.

“Twins, Sunshine.”
Zig leaned against the wall by the pool table

and watched the girls grab their food.

“They look exactly the same,” Reva

whispered. “I can only imagine the trouble they get
into.”

She had no idea. I couldn’t tell you how many

times they had tricked people by pretending to be
the other. “The stories are endless with those two.”

“You two better grab some pizza now if you

want some before it’s gone,” Easy called.

“I gotta give King a call and grab some

clothes.” I squeezed her hand. “You good with
hanging out here for a couple of minutes?”

Reva looked unsure but nodded her head.

“Sure.”

I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips.

“I’ll be quick, Sunshine. If Zig or Zag give you shit,
just tell them they’re on bike washing duty.”

“Because they’re going to listen to me,” she

laughed.

They would probably listen to her more than

they did to me. “Just behave. These guys are good

at talking people into getting in trouble. Ask Frost
about his pink Barbie Jeep.”

“Uh, okay.” Reva wandered over to the pizza

and smiled at Frost. I watched her lips move and
smirked when the words “Barbie Jeep” came out of
her lips.

Frost pointed his finger at me and boomed,

“You son of a bitch!”

I gave him a two finger salute. “Story time,”

I called. I headed down the hallway to my room
and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I connected
the call and opened the door to my room.

“I think you’re actually starting to grow up,

Hero. This is the third day in a row you’re actually
checking in with me.”

I rolled my eyes and reached for a duffel

bag under my bed. “Well, there isn’t a lot to
report.”

“No more dead waitresses?” King drawled.
“Not yet, and if whoever killed Tanya and

Bunny wants to kill again, they’re going to have to
get through the Devil’s Knights first.” I dropped the
duffel bag on the bed. “You hopping on that plane
yet?” King hadn’t told me when he was coming
back, just that he was.

King groaned. “We finally pulled into

Gravel’s last night at about eleven thirty. Meg and
the girls are all pissed we’re leaving. I won’t even
go into the assripping Mom gave me when she

heard.”

I was always amused at the idea that King

got yelled at by Meg and Ethel. He was such a
hardass, but when it came to those two, his guard
came down. “Yeah, I’ve been on the receiving end
of your mom yelling at me. Sweet woman, but you
better make sure to return her pie plates to her.”

King chuckled. “Yeah. Don’t mess with her

pie plates.”

“So, what’s gonna happen, then?” I grabbed

a few shirts and tossed them in the duffel bag. I
could run to the clubhouse whenever I wanted but
having a few things at Reva’s was a good idea.

“Rigid, Demon, and I plan to fly out on

Friday. I wanted to leave tomorrow but…” he
trailed off.

“Meg told you Friday?” I laughed. Damn if

I didn’t love Meg.

“Yeah. Besides, it sounds like you have

things under control there. For now, just lay low.
Keep the girls at the clubhouse and help Ransom if
he needs it.”

“You call him?” Yesterday when I had talked

to King, I had mentioned Ransom and how he
didn’t seem to be a fan of the club. I was surprised
as hell when King had told me before Ransom
became a cop, he had been a hang around at the
club. He wanted to prospect, but King told him no
because the club life wasn’t meant for him. Ransom

got pissed, stopped hanging around, and then joined
the police academy. It now seemed Ransom was
always on alert to bust the club. In the end, King
had been right about the club not being right for
Ransom, but it now meant he hated the club.

“Yeah. Basically told me to fuck off and if we

didn’t get out of his way, he was going to arrest
each and every one of us like he had Luna.”

I chuckled. “Well, let’s hope we can control

ourselves a little bit more than Luna. She stomped
the hell out of his foot. I’m sure he’ll have a good
limp for a little bit.”

“Good,” King grunted. “So, just keep doing

what you’re doing, Hero. You’re actually doing a
good job for all of the shit that’s being thrown your
way.”

“That means you’re passing the torch to me?”

Even through all of this, I still wanted that gavel. I
wanted to be the president of the Devil’s Knights.

King chuckled low. “Maybe someday. How

about you just keep everyone alive until I get there
and we’ll discuss it some more. We get through this
and maybe I’ll start taking more vacations if I can
leave the club in your capable hands.”

Those were the most encouraging words

King had ever said to me about being the next
president of the Knights. “Guess I should bump up
my campaign to get everyone's vote, huh?”

“Always a cocky son of a bitch.” King’s

voice was laced with humor. “You’ve got the vote
of mostly everyone. Just a few you need to keep
impressing.”

That was also news to me. When King did

finally decide to step down as prez, it wasn’t just
going to be handed to me. I was going to need the
rest of the members to actually vote me in. “You
maybe wanna let me know which ones need
convincing?”

He let out a bark of laughter. “Hell no.

Watching you trying to figure it out is going to be
my fun. Keep everyone alive, Hero, and I’ll see you
Friday.” He ended the call, and I tossed the phone
on the bed.

I knew he wasn’t going to tell me which

members were on the fence about me taking over
the club, but I assumed it was some of the older
guys. I just had to keep doing what I was doing and
remember I didn’t need to be everyone's hero like
Dad always told me.

Keep doing the right thing and eventually,

things would come back to me.

One day soon, that gavel was going to be

mine.

Chapter Twenty

Reva

“I don’t know where you learned it, but that

thing you do with your tongue is going to kill me.” I
pressed a kiss to his lips and slid off to his side.

“I can say the same thing about you sucking

on my lip. Sends a fucking current straight to my
dick and I come within seconds.”

A smug smile spread across my lips. Reading

Cosmopolitan as a teenager had really paid off
even if I didn’t get to use my knowledge ‘til I was
in my late twenties. “You’re welcome.”

Hero and I had hung out at the clubhouse for a

couple of hours and then took the long way back to
my place. I was falling in love with being on the
back of his bike. I was okay with him driving me
back and forth to work every day for the rest of my
life.

At the clubhouse, I had been able to get to

know the men he referred to as his brothers, and I
had to say, they were all like Hero, but they were
also so different. They had the same love for the
club and riding, but just talking to them for a few
minutes, I saw the craziness in Zag and Zig, the
fierce loyalty in Frost, and the laidback Zen of
Easy. Pie and Snapper kept more to themselves,

staying at the fringe of the club. Those two I liked,
but I couldn’t get a handle on what it was that
made them unique.

“What are you thinking about, Sunshine?”

Hero rumbled.

I sighed and rested my hand on his chest. “Pie

and Snapper.”

“You better be talking about the actual pie and

snapper while lying in bed naked with me,” Hero
laughed.

I rolled my eyes. “What a horrible

combination,” I choked. Fish and pie. “If I was
thinking about that, I would be gagging.”

“Probably,” Hero agreed.
“I was just thinking about the people you call

your brothers. They’re all different but the same.”

Hero hummed. “But Pie and Snapper?”
I shrugged. “I just didn’t get a vibe from

them.”

“Probably because those too are the most

guarded. Pie is just quiet in general, but Snapper
has been through some shit, Sunshine.”

“I heard about his parents. Greta gave me the

quick rundown the other night.”

“More than that. A lot more than that.”
I tipped my head back to look at him. “What

does that mean?”

Hero pressed a kiss to my lips. “That’s not my

thing to tell.”

“You’re not going to tell me?” I whined.

“Really? You can’t tell me his parents dying when
he was three is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Hero chuckled. “I can, and I am. Some secrets

aren’t meant for sharing unless the person it
happened to chooses to share them.”

“Not fair,” I pouted. Now it was going to bug

me ‘til I found out what Hero was talking about.

“Just ask him, Sunshine. He might tell you.”
“You’re making me roll my eyes a lot for it

being right after we had sex. I’ll just walk up to
Snapper and tell him you told me he’s had a hard
life and if he could tell me what exactly happened,
it would be great. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.”

“Well,” Hero drawled, “you do tend to just

blurt out whatever you want, so you could just
blame it on that.”

“I only do that around you,” I insisted.

“Something about you just turns me into a babbling
idiot that can’t seem to hold a single thought in my
head.”

“It’s cute.”
“Me being an idiot is cute,” I scoffed. Hero

was blowing smoke up my butt.

“No, Sunshine, you being you is cute.” He

rolled into me, pinned my arms above my head, and
straddled my hips. “I’m gonna have to keep telling
you that until you get it through your head.”

“That I’m idiotically cute.”

“Reva,” he laughed. “You make it hard to be

serious right now.”

“What are we being serious about?”
He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine.

“The fact that I like you the way you are and if you
change, I’m not gonna be happy.”

“Well, I mean, that’s nice of you.” And

incredibly sweet.

“That’s nice of me?” he drawled.
I nodded.
“You got anything else to say?”
A ton more. I just couldn’t seem to get it out

of my mouth. “I like you, too.” I wiggled my
fingers at him. “All of this, I am a fan of.”

“Reva.”
“You know when you call me Reva I know

you’re about to lay something on me that is
probably going to terrify me.” I closed my eyes.
“Hit me with it.”

“Open your eyes, woman.”
I cracked open one eye.
“Now the other one.”
I sighed and opened my eyes.
“You listening?”
“My eyes are open, aren’t they?”
He closed his eyes and dropped his chin to his

chest.

Yeah. I said that. “I’m listening, Hero.” I

wasn’t trying to piss him off.

“I’m not good with words either, Reva. I’m

just gonna tell you what I want to, and I hope it
comes out right.”

Whoa. “Uh, okay?” When in doubt, answer

with an uncertain okay.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he started.

We were both naked. That was probably a

good decision.

“Things are pretty crazy right now with the

club, and I’m trying to get that prez seat, but
through all of that, nothing is going to change me
being here.”

“You were my hero when I needed it with

Barbara. No pun intended.”

He chuckled. “And I will forever be grateful

to Barbara for deciding to hide behind the
clubhouse. Best day of my life so far.”

“So, this is us?” I asked. “It’s you and me?”

This felt right. It was quick, and we barely

knew each other, but saying out loud that it was me
and Hero was good.

“Looks to be where it’s going. Might be a few

bumps in the road because shit never seems to go
easy for me.” He let go of my wrists and trailed a
finger down my arm. “We’ve already been through
two murders, Luna’s arrest, and a rouge dog. We’ve
made it through all of that.”

“And you met my parents. Shirtless.” That

was a moment I wasn’t going to forget anytime

soon.

He leaned down, and his eyes connected with

mine. “So, you and me?” he asked.

I smiled and pressed a kiss to his lips. “You

and me.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Hero

The leather was soft and smooth between my

fingers. “Hey, Sunshine,” I called. “What’s this?”
How many times had I been in Reva’s house and I
had never noticed the dog collar hanging by the
back door?

“Oh, uh, that was Mabel’s.” Reva moved next

to me and held out a cup of coffee.

“You wanna explain a little bit more?” I

grabbed the cup and nodded to the collar.

Reva reached out and touched the light pink

tag. “She was my dog. She passed away almost nine
months ago.”

Well, hell. “I’m sorry, Sunshine.”
“She was a good girl. Went to work with me

every day and loved to play ball until she couldn’t
stand.” Her voice cracked, and she smiled sadly.

“Was she old?”
“Not at all. She was five. One minute, she was

fine, and then suddenly, she was throwing up blood
and couldn’t stand.” She dropped the tag. “She had
cancer. There wasn’t anything the vet could do for
her.”

“Jesus Christ, Sunshine.” I should have kept

my damn mouth shut.

She wiped a tear from her cheek and smiled.

“It’s okay.” She sniffed and smiled wide. “It sucks
that she’s gone, but she was the best dog. I was
lucky to have her for as long as I did.”

I draped my arm over her shoulder, and she

leaned into me. “I think she was lucky to have you
too, Sunshine.”

“Yeah, we both needed each other.” She

sighed and took a sip of her coffee.

“Have you ever thought about getting another

dog?” I asked. She had the ideal job. She worked
with dogs, and she used to take Mabel to work with
her.

She shrugged. “Once or twice I have. I just

don’t know if another puppy will be able to replace
Mabel.”

“Maybe you need to not replace Mabel

because there was only one of her, but try to find a
Betty, Spot, or Dino?”

Reva sputtered with laughter.
I thought my speech was pretty good. I had

dogs growing up my whole life, and I never tried to
replace the past with the new.

“I think you’re right, but if I do get another

dog, you are not going to name it. Those names
were horrible.” She leaned up and pressed a kiss to
my cheek. “Though if we get a Betty, she’ll have to
be best friends with Barbara, right?”

“We?” I asked.

“It’s you and me, right?” she asked. “I guess

that would make a we.” She bumped her shoulder
into me and pulled out from under my arm. “I need
to get to work. As much as I love being on the back
of your bike, I’ll drive myself today.”

“What, why?” I followed her to the front door.
She grabbed her purse and hitched it over her

shoulder. “Because I called the landlord to come
look at the hatch to the crawl space in my bedroom.
It was open again this morning.”

“It was?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know what is

going on with it. He said he’ll call me when he’s on
the way over. I don’t want to have to bother you to
come bring me home and then back to the shop.”

“You know I wouldn’t mind taking you back

and forth.” Having Reva at my back when I was on
my bike was my favorite way to ride.

“How about I drive myself back and forth, and

then when I get off work, you and I go for a ride
tonight?”

Now that sounded like a damn good idea.

“But, I could also drive you to work and go for a
long ride tonight.”

She looked down at my bare feet. “You gonna

ride your bike like that?” she laughed.

“Five minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”
She patted me on the chest. “And in those five

minutes it takes for you to get your boots, I’ll

already be more than halfway to work. I’m fine
driving myself, Hero.” She pressed a kiss to my lips.
“I’ll see you after work.”

“Maybe I’ll walk over later.”
She beamed up at me. “Now that sounds like a

good idea. I have a little lull this afternoon that you
could fit perfectly in.”

I wrapped my arms around her. “You know I

fit perfectly with you, Sunshine.”

“Mmm,” she hummed. “You sure do.”
I delved my fingers into her hair and tipped

her head back. My lips connected with hers and
just like every time we kissed, it was better than the
last.

“I’ll see you later, Sunshine.”
“Promise,” she whispered.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Reva

“Hair of the Dog. You got Reva.” I wedged

the phone between my ear and shoulder and
continued brushing Buck the gorgeous German
Shepherd who unfortunately did not like baths. My
shirt and pants were soaked, and my shoes were
mushy.

“Reva. It’s Mickey. I’m on the way over to

your place right now.”

Not the best timing for my landlord to call, but

I could make it work. “Uh, okay. I just have to
finish up here and I’ll be over.”

“Sounds good. I’ll wait for you out front.”
I managed to finish brushing Buck, put him in

one of the spacious kennels I had in back, and
locked the front door behind me.

Ten minutes later, I parked in front of my

duplex, and Mickey’s van wasn’t there yet. I had
time to run inside and change into dry clothes
before he came in. After today, I was going to keep
a dry change of clothes at the shop. I was sick of
having to be uncomfortable in wet clothes all day
when one of the dogs got a little rowdy in the bath.

I dropped my keys and purse on the kitchen

counter and kicked off my shoes on the way to the

bedroom. I pulled my shirt over my head and
screamed as it dropped to the floor.

“You’re home.” Harry stood in front of my

open closet, a ladder behind him, and a rope in his
hand.

I pivoted on my heel, escaping my only

thought, but Harry lunged toward me and grabbed
my wrist. He yanked me down onto the floor and
covered me with his body. He wound the rope
around my neck and tightened it. The fibers of the
rope dug into my skin, and a sick smile stretched
across his lips.

His legs clamped down on mine, and he

pinned me into place. “Your skin is even prettier
when you’re awake.”

I clawed at his arms trying to get away.

“No, please no,” I pleaded.

He grabbed my wrists with one hand and

wrapped the ends of the rope around them. “The
more you struggle, the more I’m going to hurt you.”
He leaned down to me and licked my cheek. “I like
to see you hurt,” he hissed.

My mind raced with a thousand thoughts

and panic washed over me. “Harry, please. I don’t
know what I did. Please just let me go.” Why was
he doing this? What did he want? How was I going
to get out of here? What should I do?

My eyes darted around frantically looking for

something to help. He had me pinned in front of the

closet, and I saw the hatch to the crawl space was
hanging open.

Oh, my God.
I quickly connected the dots in my head.

Harry had been sneaking into my place

through the crawl space. But how? Why? There
wasn’t access between his place and mine. At least,
there shouldn’t have been.

“We don’t have much time,” he said it out

loud, but he wasn’t saying it to me. I looked around
frantically but didn’t see anyone else in the room
with us. “Because her fucking boyfriend will be
here to fuck her.” He yanked me off the floor, the
rope around my neck loosening.

“Harry, stop please. Listen to me.”
He looked straight at me and shook his

head. “There isn’t anything left to say.” He reared
back and punched me square in the nose. Stars
flashed before my eyes, and I stumbled backward.
He hit me again, this time in the eye, and I fell to
my ass. He kicked me in the stomach. My breath
whooshed out of me.

His knee connected with my forehead, and I

fell back. “Not time for sitting, Sunshine.” The
nickname Hero used for me dripped with disgust
from his mouth.

Harry bent over and threw me over his

shoulder. “Let’s get her fat ass over to our place.”

His words were again out loud, but they

weren’t meant for me. Harry was having a
conversation with himself. He was off his fucking
rocker and was hauling me up a ladder to the crawl
space above my duplex.

I tried to scream, but I couldn’t get a deep

enough breath. Someone would hear me if I
screamed. I just had to scream until they heard me.

Harry grabbed the rope that was hanging from

my neck and twisted it tightly. My breath whooshed
from my lungs again, and I squirmed against him.

He yanked my head back. My body slid off his

shoulder and hit the ladder. He pushed my head up
into the crawl space and hefted my body through
the hole.

The rope on my wrists loosened, and I flipped

over on my stomach. My head rolled, and I
slammed my eyes shut. Bile climbed up my throat,
and I gagged violently.

“Where the hell does she think she’s going?”

Harry called.

I had to get up. I had to figure out how to get

away.

Harry grabbed my foot and yanked it

backward. I fell down on my stomach, and my face
slammed against one of the two by fours. I groaned
groggily and opened my eyes. Across the span of
my crawl space, there was a large hole cut into the
drywall that originally separated my place from
Harry’s. A bright light shone through the hole, and

music echoed up from his duplex.

“Why are you doing this?” I slurred.
A firm hand gripped my hair and yanked my

head back. Harry’s mouth brushed against my ear,
and disgust rolled through my body. “You were
mine. Now you’re his.” He laughed low. “Now
you’ll be dead, and we’ll be together.”

He lifted me up and pushed me toward the

hole to his duplex. I stumbled, crashing down on
my knees. He grabbed me around the waist and
dragged me through the hole.

“What a Wonderful World” by Louis

Armstrong played loudly through the open hatch to
his duplex. “This was supposed to be our song,”
Harry drawled. “But then you went and fucked it
up!”

Harry was absolutely insane. I had barely

spoken to him, and he had us together in his head.
“We need to talk, Harry.” Maybe I could calm him
down enough that I could get away.

He dragged me to the hatch to his duplex,

and I looked down at the white carpet beneath us.

“Sure. We can talk down there.” He

knocked my feet from under me, and I fell forward
into the hole. My head smashed against the hard
wood framing, and my body crumpled on the floor
of Harry’s bedroom. The world rolled for a second
and then everything went black.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Hero

“You know Reva?”
I pushed my sunglasses on top of my head.

“Yeah.”

“That her car?”
I looked back at Reva’s car parked in the same

spot it always was. “Yeah.”

“Then where the hell is she?”
“You her landlord?” I asked.
I had stopped over at Hair of the Dog, but

Reva’s car wasn’t there. I figured she had headed
back to her place to meet with her landlord.

“Yeah. I tried to call her when I was on my

way over, but she didn’t answer.” He hitched his
thumb toward the door. “I’ve been knocking on the
door for five minutes, but she’s not answering.”

I stalked to the door and pounded on it.

“Reva!” I shouted. A sick feeling rolled through my
stomach when she didn’t come to the door. I pulled
out my phone and called her cell.

“Her phone is ringing in there. I can fucking

hear it. She fell asleep or something?” her landlord
asked.

I listened closely and heard her ringtone

through the door. “You got a key?” I demanded.

He shook his head. “She said she would meet

me here, and I didn’t think to bring my keys.”

Son of a bitch.
I walked around the back of the duplex and

pounded on the back door. I called her name again
but there was silence.

“Yo, I’m gonna call the cops, buddy. This isn’t

right,” her landlord called.

I jogged around to the front of the house and

pounded on the front door one last time. “You got
insurance, right?” I asked.

“Of course,” he replied.
I rammed the door, crashing my shoulder into

the hard wood. It didn’t budge. I stepped back.
“You wanna fucking help here?” I growled at her
landlord.

He dropped the phone and stepped next to me.

I counted to three, and we both planted our
shoulders into the door. It slammed open.

Reva’s purse was on the kitchen counter along

with her phone and keys.

“I’m calling the cops.”
I didn’t care what he did. I had to find Reva.
She wasn’t in the living room.
She wasn’t in the bathroom.
The door to the second bedroom was open,

but she wasn’t in there.

Her bedroom door was wide open. The shirt

she had been wearing this morning was on the floor,

along with a smear of blood. A ladder was tipped
over in front of the closet, and the trap door to the
attic was open.

What the fuck? I righted the ladder and

quickly climbed up. I peeked my head in, and my
heart dropped out of the chest.

A large hole was crudely cut into the dry wall

that separated Reva’s attic from Harry’s. I hoisted
myself up and made my way through the hole. I
pulled my gun out of the waistband of my pants and
leaned over Harry’s open attic door. No one was
there, but a large blood stain on the carpet turned
my stomach.

I dropped down through the hole. My knees

hit the floor, and I looked around frantically. She
had to be here somewhere. Music was playing
loudly from a speaker set up by the bathroom.
“Reva!” I called. My finger rested on the trigger,
and I made my way over to the bathroom.

I turned off the music and slowly moved down

the hallway. I plastered myself against the hallway
wall and peeked around the corner into the
bedroom.

Harry stood there, naked as the day he was

born, and he was looking down at Reva’s lifeless
body.

“Don’t fucking move, asshole!” I pointed the

gun at Harry’s head and stepped out from the
hallway.

Harry slowly raised his head and smiled.

“You’re too late. You can’t stop us from being
together now.”

I wasn’t too late. Reva wasn’t dead. She

couldn’t be. My eyes darted to her lifeless body,
and my heart sank.

Harry quickly raised his arm, a gun in his

hand, and pressed it against his temple. “She’s mine
now.” He pulled the trigger, his brains exploding all
over the wall, and he crumpled in a pile onto the
floor. His brains seeped out onto the carpet.

I scrambled to get to Reva and gathered her

lifeless body in my arms. She was still warm but not
breathing. “Come one, Sunshine. You’re not
leaving me,” I sobbed. Her battered face was caked
with blood, and her bottom lip was swollen.

Voices sounded above me. “Help!” I

screamed.

Loud banging came on the door, but I didn’t

leave Reva. I wasn’t going to leave her. I laid her
flat and placed my lips on hers. I blew into her
mouth, trying to do anything to get her breathing.

I heard the back door slam open at the same

time as the front door exploded. Police swarmed
around me with their guns drawn.

It was a clusterfuck with no one really

knowing what was going on, but all I wanted them
to do was help Reva. “She needs help,” I screamed
urgently.

Two officers dropped next to me. One started

compressions on her chest while the other moved
me out of the way. Sirens wailed in the distance,
and I sat back on my haunches while I watched two
strangers try to bring Reva back to life.

I watched in shock, people moving around me,

but I couldn’t take my eyes off Reva. I only had
her for a short time, and she was gone.

“Come back to me, Sunshine,” I croaked.

“Come back to me.”

The officer blew into her mouth and then

stopped to check her pulse. “It’s weak, but it’s
there.”

She had a pulse.
She wasn’t dead.
The siren of the ambulance filled the duplex,

and I jumped up to my feet. Two paramedics rushed
into the living room and quickly loaded her up onto
the stretcher. They wheeled her out, and I followed
close behind.

“Hero.”
My head snapped over to the walkway to

Reva’s. Ransom strode over to me and laid his hand
on my arm. “You’re gonna have to stay here.”

I ripped my arm from his hold. “The fuck I

am. I’m going with Reva.”

He tried to grab my arm again, but I took a

step toward the ambulance. “I’m going with her. If
you’ve got any fucking questions, you can ask me

them at the hospital.” I wasn’t up for Ransom
acting like his usual asshole self. I had nothing to do
with what happened. All I wanted to do was make
sure Reva was going to be okay.

He pointed his finger at me. “You so much as

step foot out of that hospital before you talk to me,
I’ll arrest your ass, you got me?”

I hopped into the back of the ambulance with

Reva and grabbed her hand. “Is she okay?” I asked
the paramedic.

He was hooking her up to all sorts of machines

and getting IV bags ready. “She’s got a weak pulse.
We’re doing everything we can for her right now.”

I squeezed her hand and closed my eyes.
She was going to be all right.
She had to be.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Hero

“I brought you a change of clothes.”
I shook my head. “I’m fine.”
Greta dropped the duffel bag at my feet and

sat down next to me. “She’s sleeping, Hero. I can
sit with her for ten minutes while you haul your ass
to the shower and wash the blood from your skin.”

“What if she wakes up?” I asked.
“Then I’ll come running for you like the

British are coming.”

Reva was going to make it. She had some

recovering to do, but she would be fine in the long
run. After Harry had dropped her from the ceiling
into his bedroom, he smothered a chloroform rag to
her face and thought she had died. His plan, which
he only half succeeded with, was to kill Reva and
then kill himself to meet her on the other side since
he couldn’t have her here.

The guy was a fucking lunatic who was

obsessed with Reva. His obsession had turned
deadly when Reva and I got together. It had pushed
him completely into the nuthouse.

“Luna is outside. She’s talking to Ransom.”
I scrubbed my hands down my face. “I don’t

know why he’s still here.”

They had cleared me without even talking

to me. Reva’s landlord had told them exactly what
had happened and that I had nothing to do with
Harry dying or Reva being hurt.

Ransom had, of course, still come to the

hospital to harass me, but in the end, he knew I
hadn’t done anything. Ever since King had told me
about Ransom wanting to be part of the club, I
knew he was just on my case because I got the
chance to be part of the Devil’s Knights.

Reva shifted in her sleep, and I shot out of my

chair. Her eyes fluttered open, and she smiled up at
me.

“Hey,” she whispered. She had been in and

out of consciousness and each time stayed awake a
little bit longer.

“There’s my Sunshine.” I brushed her hair

from her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

She wrinkled her nose and brushed her hand

over my cheek. “You still haven’t washed up?”

Greta busted out laughing. “Girl, I was just

trying to get him to wash his stinky ass and then
you woke up.” Great grabbed the bag and swung it
from her fingers.

“Go get cleaned up, Hero,” Reva insisted.
“I’ll wait until you go back to sleep.”
“Ha,” Greta scoffed. “And then he’ll say he

can’t because he has to be here when you wake
up.” Greta shook the bag. “Go clean up and I’ll

keep your woman entertained.”

“Go,” Reva ordered.
I grabbed the bag from Greta. “Then you

better stay awake until I get back.”

“I’ll try my hardest,” Reva promised.
I gently pressed a kiss to her lips. “I’ll be right

back.”

Greta shooed me out the door.
Luna and Ransom were standing outside in the

hallway and talking in hushed voices. I headed
away from them in search of a bathroom. I had
nothing more to say to Ransom. He was really on
my shit list now for trying to keep me from riding
with Reva.

He could tell me he was just doing his job, but

there was more to it.

He hated the club.
I ducked into the first bathroom I found and

dropped the bag next to the sink. I splashed cold
water on my face and washed off the dry blood on
my hands.

I looked in the mirror and tried to recognize

the guy I saw.

It had been close to twenty-four hours since

my world had been almost ripped away from me.
Having to face the fact that things could and would
change in an instant rocked me to my core.

From now on, I wasn’t going to sit back and

let life give me whatever it wanted.

Life was too short to not take what you

wanted and not take no for an answer.

Reva was mine, and no one in this world was

going to take her away from me.

Reva

“Be honest.”
Greta raised her right hand. “Scouts honor,

sugar. You don’t look that bad.”

I rolled my eyes and wiggled my fingers at her.

“I just want a quick look at what I look like.”

Greta dug in her purse. “You’re alive. Who the

hell cares what you look like?” She found a
compact and slapped it into my hand. “Prepare to
be surprised.”

I was sore as hell, and parts of my face felt

like they were going to explode. I had to know
what I looked like because I felt like complete shit.

My fingers fumbled with the compact, but I

finally opened it up. I surveyed my face and
frowned. “Wow.”

“Told ya,” Greta gloated. “You’ve got some

bruising on your nose and a fat lip.”

My nose throbbed, and my lip looked twice

the size than it normally was. “I guess that’s better
than dead.” I closed the compact and handed it

back to her. “Thanks.”

Greta dropped it back in her purse. “I’m here

to make sure your man changes his clothes and to
be your mirror bitch.”

I laughed and settled back into the bed.
“You sure you’re okay, girl?” Greta asked.
I couldn’t tell you how many times I had been

asked that in the past twenty-four hours. Hero had
been the one to ask it the most. “Yeah.”

I had gotten lucky. Besides from Harry

hitting me and throwing me through a ceiling, he
didn’t do anything else to me. I remembered
everything leading up to Harry pressing the cloth
soaked in chloroform over my face and the doctor
assured me there was no trauma to my body from
Harry trying to rape me.

From the time Harry had taken me to Hero

finding me had only been half an hour.

In my mind, Hero had saved me because who

knows what would have happened if Harry had
turned the gun on me before he killed himself.
Thankfully, the guy was a moron and didn’t realize
he hadn’t killed me before offing himself.

“The news is trying to sell the fact that Harry

was the guy who had killed Bunny and Tanya.”
Greta shook her head. “They’re wrong, but people
will latch onto anything to make them feel safe.”

I groaned. “Lord. I wish Harry would have

been responsible for those, then all of this craziness

would be over.”

Greta clicked her tongue. “You and me both.”
Hero walked back into the room with the

duffel bag in his hand. He looked refreshed and not
as tired. He had been sleeping on and off the past
twenty-four hours in a chair next to my bed.

I cocked my head to the side and read his shirt

out loud. “I do it for the hos.” In the center of the
words, Santa was checking his list.

Greta busted out laughing and slapped her

knee. “God, that’s even better than I pictured.”

Hero dropped the duffel bag on the floor. “Do

I even want to know where the fuck you got this
shirt?”

Greta lifted her hands and shrugged. “I had to

bring what I could find.”

“At least she got you jeans,” I giggled.
“This is funny to you?” Hero asked me.
I smiled and nodded. “I mean, a little bit. You

totally pull it off, handsome.”

He tugged at the hem of the shirt and growled.

Greta had also bought the shirt at least one size too
small. Hero looked like he was about to hulk out of
it.

Greta jumped up and clapped her hands

together. “Well, my job here is done. I’m gonna go
make sure Luna doesn’t get arrested by the
handsome Detective Ransom.” She winked at me
and clicked her tongue. “You see what I did there?

Handsome Ransom?”

Hero pointed his finger at the door. “Out.”
Greta strutted out the door with a wink over

her shoulder at me and a pat on the shoulder for
Hero.

“I don’t know why I thought she was actually

doing something nice.” He shook his head. “I think
she’s got a screw loose.”

“I think she was just trying to make me

laugh.” I scooted over in the bed and patted the
empty spot next to me. “She made me laugh and
now it’s your turn to keep my company.”

“You need to rest, Sunshine.”
“Yeah, and I’m not going to do that with you

all the way over there. Get your butt in bed with
me, Hero.”

He held up his hands. “I’ll do it, but the

second I hurt you, I’m getting the hell out of that
bed.” He toed off his boots and gingerly laid down
next to me.

“Uh, do you think you could touch me?”
He laid on his side, his arm tucked under him,

and the other raised over his head.

“I promise I don’t have cooties.”
Hero didn’t move. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Impossible. I took matters into my own hands.

I scooted close to him ‘til I pressed against him and
basically draped my body over him like a blanket.
“That’s better,” I whispered.

“Sunshine, you sure this is okay?” He didn’t

move, and I could tell he was fighting the urge to
relax.

I tipped my head back and looked him in the

eye. “You couldn’t hurt me if you tried, Hero.”

After everything that had happened with

Harry, I was okay.

I was a little battered and bruised, but at the

end of the day, that would all heal.

This right here.

This was where I belonged.
Hero had saved my life, and in exchange, he

got my heart.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Hero

“Ten minutes and we’re leaving.”
Reva rolled her eyes. “Uh, no.”
“Reva.”
She shook her finger in my face. “You already

took away me riding on the back of your bike for a
week, Hero, you are not going to take away
hanging out with Greta and Luna.”

“It’s Friday, Sunshine. You were kidnapped

and beaten Tuesday. You really think hanging out at
the clubhouse is something you should be doing?”

“Yes.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “I think we

should go back to the hospital and make sure you
still don’t have a concussion.”

It was late Friday afternoon, and Reva was

insisting on hanging out at the clubhouse. Greta had
opened her mouth that they were having a cookout
because King, Rigid, and Demon were back in
town. I, for one, wanted to stay at her place and do
nothing.

“And I think you should take the stick out of

your ass, Hero.” She stepped toward me, and the
toe of her shoes bumped mine.

“I like her already.”

Reva’s head snapped to the doorway of the

clubhouse.

I kept my eyes on her and sighed. Of course

Dad would be privy to Reva and me arguing about
being at the clubhouse.

“Is that Greta’s dad?” Reva asked

I shook my head. “He’s my dad.”

Reva’s jaw dropped. “Wow.”
Yeah, that was the typical reaction Dad got

when he met someone new.

“You two going to come in or just hang out in

the parking lot?” Dad called.

“Your son thinks I’m going to break,” Reva

called.

“From what I hear, you’re pretty invincible.

He shouldn’t worry too much.”

I grabbed Reva’s hand and led her toward

the front door. “You even yawn and I’m taking you
home,” I whispered.

“Oh, Hero,” she laughed. “You’re too good for
me.”

That was backward. Reva was too good for

me, but I didn’t care. She was mine now, and
nothing was taking her away from me.

“Dad, this is Reva.”

Dad held out his hand and shook Reva’s

hand. “Cyn is going to kill me when she finds out I
got to meet you before her.”

Dad and Mom had no clue that I was seeing

anyone until they got word that she had almost
died. To say they were shocked was an
understatement.

Mom had tried to sneak back home without

Dad knowing, but he had caught her red-handed
with her credit card before she could buy the plane
ticket.

“It’s nice to meet you Mr. Rigid.” Reva shook

his hand firmly and smiled wide.

“Just Rigid, darlin’,” Dad chuckled. “Come on

in. King just finished grilling the steaks.”

“Mmm,” Reva hummed. “I love steak.”
Dad opened the door and motioned for her to

go ahead of him. “Then you’re in luck.”

Greta called Reva’s name as soon as we

walked in. “He let you out of the house,” she joked.

I was still a little pissed at Greta for bringing

me that ridiculous shirt to wear at the hospital. I
had gotten more than a few looks from the nurses
and doctors when they came in to check on Reva.
Payback was going to be a bitch, for Greta.

“Under conditions,” Reva giggled.
Greta grabbed Reva’s free hand. “I’m stealing

your girl. Go do cluby things.” Greta pulled her
away, but I tugged back.

“Hero,” Reva whined.
“I need a kiss before you go hauling off with

cocoa puffs here.”

Greta scoffed. “Slightly offended but that’s

also my favorite cereal so I’ll let it slide.”

Reva leaned up in her tiptoes. “Have fun

doing cluby things.” She pressed a quick kiss to my
lips and headed off into the crowded clubhouse.

“How the hell did you manage to get that girl

to fall in love with you?” Dad folded his arms over
his chest.

I had no fucking clue how I had done it, but I

knew I was a lucky fuck. “Must be that Scott
charm.”

Dad put his arm across my shoulder and pulled

me close. “No, it’s that heart of gold your mother
gave you.”

“Blue mohawk and a poet,” I laughed. “Now I

see why Mom fell for you.”

Dad scoffed. “I still think she’s blind as hell,

but I’m not going to be the one to tell her that.”

We made our way over to the bar, and I

glimpsed Reva on the couch with Greta and Luna.
Indiana was also sitting with them.

I grabbed a beer and handed one to Dad.

He eyed me closely. “Any other words of

wisdom you need from me?”

“Any advice you got on how to get that gavel

will be appreciated.” I had Reva, now I needed the
gavel.

“Stay on the path you’re on and everything

will fall into place, son. Actions speak louder than
words.”

King slid up next to me. “And maybe washing

my bike would help, too.” He grabbed my
unopened beer from me and popped the top. “And
your beer.”

Dad laughed and clinked his beer with King’s.

They were best friends who had been through a hell
of a lot. The type of friendship they had was the
example that set the bar high for the club.

Loyalty through thick and thin.
Now I wanted to carry on that tradition.
“Also just do what we talked about kid, and

you’ll be good.” King handed back the opened beer
he hadn’t drank from. “That torch will be yours in
no time.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Reva

“Where did Indiana go?” Greta asked.
“Smoke,” Luna answered. “That girl has been

smoking like a chimney the past couple of days.”

Greta scoffed. “Can you really blame her?”
Luna shrugged. “No, but it just seems like

there are other things bothering her besides the
obvious.”

“I like her,” I blurted. “I mean, she’s super

quiet, but I think she’s pretty cool.”

“You’re just amazed at the shit she can do on

the pole,” Luna laughed. “I heard you gushing to
her about that crazy move she does where she
basically free falls and then her thighs of steel stop
her.”

Yeah, that was a pretty amazing move. I could

barely do five pushups. The thought of flipping and
spinning around the pole seemed impossible and
death defying.

Greta wiped her hands on her pants and

dropped her empty plate on the table behind us.
“So, when are we going to do our girls night since
the first one didn’t happen?”

“You mean because my lunatic neighbor tried

to jump into the afterlife with me?” I laughed.

Luna pointed her finger at me. “Bingo.”
“Well, I think it’s going to be a little bit seeing

as I had to literally rip you away from Hero and he
hasn’t really taken his eye off you.” Greta pointed
across the clubhouse where Hero was talking with
his dad and some other guy.

“You think King is handing over the keys to

the kingdom?” Luna asked.

King handed Hero a beer, and I tipped my

head to the side. “That has to be a good sign, right?
He gave him a beer.”

“Girl,” Greta laughed, “who the hell knows.

Sometimes it’s nice not knowing what the hell is
going on.”

Luna grunted. “You haven’t known what was

going on the past four years. You’ve had your head
stuck in a book trying to get your ass out of
Rockton.”

Greta shrugged. “Yeah, but I’m thinking

maybe I don’t want out of Rockton anymore.”

“What?” Luna gasped.
A huge smile spread across Greta’s lips. “I

might have gotten an offer from Preston Clinic to
be their new vet tech. And, I might have accepted it
with the understanding that when a vet spot opens
up, it’s all mine.”

Luna hooted and jumped up from her chair.

“This calls for a celebration!” She headed to the
bar with a skip in her step. Luna may come off as a

bitch to most of the world, but if you took the time
to get to know her, she was only partly bitch.

“That’s awesome!” I gushed. Preston Clinic

was two towns over and was one of the best vets
within a six county radius.

“What are we celebrating?” Hero asked.
I twisted around and was surprised to see him

standing behind me. “Greta got a job at Preston
Clinic.”

“Sticking around, huh?” he asked Greta.
Greta winked and clicked her tongue. “Only

because I like being your personal shopper, Hero.”

Hero growled. “Just remember payback is a

bitch.”

Greta flipped him off and popped up from the

couch. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go
celebrate the fact that I’ll be around to torment you
more, Hero. Tootles.” Greta strutted over to the bar
where Luna had gone in search of shots.

Hero hopped over the back of the couch and

draped his arm over my shoulders. “You good?”

I reached up and ran my fingers over the slight

stubble on his chin. “Never better.” I sighed, and
my eyes connected with his. “Wanna know why?”

He pressed a kiss to my fingertips. “Tell me,

Sunshine.”

“Because it’s you and me, Hero.”
“You and me, Sunshine. Always.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Indiana

It was too busy.
People everywhere.
I sighed and inhaled deep on the cigarette in

my mouth. The nicotine coursed through my
system, and I finally relaxed. I liked the comradery
from the girls, but damn if I just wanted to be alone
sometimes.

The cement slab out the back door of the

clubhouse had become a private place to go and
clear my mind for a few minutes while I killed my
lungs.

Don’t even get me started on Frost constantly

being close to me. The guy hardly spoke to me
unless he wanted information about Tanya or
Bunny, but he was always close. I didn’t know
what to do with him.

I didn’t know what to do with any guy, but

Frost seemed different than the creeps and drunks
who loved to watch me dance. It was like he saw
past the glitter, makeup, and boob tassels.

A branch cracked behind me, and I whirled

around, ready to karate chop whatever animal was
creeping in the small wooded patch of trees. An
owl hooted, but there wasn’t anything there I could
see.

“Way to freak yourself out, Indy,” I grunted.
A strong arm snaked around my waist, pulled

me back against a hard body, and a hand covered
my mouth. My blood ran cold, and I froze.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

Coming Soon

Midnight Wreckage

Kings of Vengeance MC

Book 4

July 29

Ride the Wind

Devil’s Knights 2

Gen

Book 2

September 29

About the Author

Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling
author Winter Travers is a devoted wife, mother,
and aunt turned author who was born and raised in
Wisconsin. After a brief stint in South Carolina
following her heart to chase the man who is now
her hubby, they retreated back up North to the
changing seasons, and to the place they now call
home.
Winter spends her days writing happily ever-afters,
and her nights being a karate mom hauling her son
to practices and tournaments.. She also has an
addiction to anything MC related, puppies, and
baking.

Winter loves to stay connected with her readers.
Don’t hesitate to reach out and contact her.

Dive into the first chapter of Nickel!

Nickel

Fallen Lords MC

Book 1

Chapter 1

Karmen

I couldn’t find a box big enough to fit him in.

Well, that makes me sound like a murderer or
something. Nickel, the man in question, is still very much
alive, I assure you. I should probably go back a little bit and
explain.
My father went to prison when I was thirteen, and I
can’t remember my mother. She left before I could even have a
memory of her. He always told me we were better off without
her. Things were rough for us, but we always had each other.
Well, I had my dad. My dad had me and beer. I can’t remember
a time I didn’t smell hops on his breath.
I went to my first day of preschool and asked the
teacher why her breath didn’t smell like my dad. That ended up
with my dad in the principal’s office for an hour and me crying
the whole way home while my dad yelled at me. That was the
last time I ever mentioned my dad’s drinking to anyone. I was a
fast learner and caught on quick. One mess up, and I never
made the same mistake again.
The night my dad went to prison, I was at home, like
normal, while he was out at the bar three miles down the road.
He regularly walked to the bar and stumbled home, but that

night, there was a severe storm predicted to blow in, so he
decided he would take the truck. That decision changed my life
and made me see everything in a whole new light.
I was sprawled out on the living room floor, watching
TV, when there was a loud pounding on the front door, and I
figured it was my dad. It was normal for him to forget his keys
and bang to get inside.
I opened the door to two police officers, with my
grandma, Vivian, standing behind them. I only saw my grandma
at Christmas. I knew the second I laid eyes on her, something
was not right.
It seemed my father had decided to call it a night after
drinking almost a twenty-four pack of beer and tried to drive
home. In that three-mile drive to the house that had no turns or
curves on it, my father had managed to hit a soccer mom in her
minivan with her three children in the back. Only one child
survived.
The police told me I had to go with my grandma until
they figured something out. Meanwhile, she stood behind them,
arms crossed over her chest, tapping her foot impatiently. After
they were done, my grandma barged between the two police
officers and started firing off orders about packing a bag and
getting all my stuff ready to go. We weren’t going to stay in the
“hell hole” anymore.
While I was packing up my things, completely in shock,
I heard my grandma down the hall, bitching and moaning about
having to take care of me. I knew then and there that things
were never going to be the same.
After she hauled me over to her trailer—that was not
much better than the “hell hole” I used to live in—I begged to
see my dad. Every day, she told me, and I quote, “I couldn’t
see the bastard yet.”
Two weeks after I went to live with Vivian—she hated
when I called her Grandma—I finally got to see my dad. After
I was searched, I was led to a room with a glass wall and
partitions separating small stools that faced the window. I was

told to sit on the stool furthest to the left and wait. Vivian sat in
the corner, pissed off that the guards said she had to be in there
with me, even though I honestly didn’t want her there.
It had taken ten minutes before my father walked
through the door. He looked the same as the last time I had seen
him, except for the orange jumpsuit he was wearing. He sat
down on the other side of the glass and picked up the phone.
He motioned his hand for me to do the same. I put the receiver
to my ear and held my breath.
“Hey, baby.” He always called me baby. I couldn’t
remember him ever using my real name unless he was serious,
and serious didn’t often happen with my dad.
“Hi, Daddy,” I whispered.
“Everything going okay over at Vivian’s?”
I nodded but didn’t speak.
“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t plan for this to happen.” My
first thought was, what a stupid saying. Who the hell plans to
drink twenty-four beers and then plow a family off the road?
There’s probably a very short list of people who plan for
something like that.
“It’s okay.” What else was I supposed to say?
“I think I’m going to be in here for a while.”
I nodded again, because it finally hit me. Seeing my
father behind a thick glass wall in an orange jumpsuit was
hammering it home, that life as I knew it was about to change.
A tear I had been holding in streaked down my face and landed
on the small ledge in front of me.
“Don’t cry, baby.” His eyes were on me, watching the
tears I was so desperately trying to hold in finally run down my
cheeks.
“I don’t know what to do, Daddy,” I wheezed out. My
tears were coming fast and furious now. I was five seconds
away from becoming an emotional, blubbering mess.
“You don’t need to worry. Vivian is going to take care
of you. I had the police call her as soon as they could,” he said,
trying to reassure me.

I was unable to talk. I tried wiping at the tears, but by
the time I whisked them away, new ones were falling, taking
their place.
“Karmen,” he sternly said into the phone. I glanced up
and found him staring at me. “Handels don’t cry, Karmen. Dry
your tears. Nothing can be done now but to go on and make the
best of the situation we are in.”
I wiped my eyes again, willing the tears to stop. I
reached into my pocket and pulled out the Kleenex Vivian had
pressed into my hand as I walked to the door before. My
father’s words rang in my head. He always used to say, “We
need to make the best of our situation.” He would always tell
me that when we would run out of money or had to find a new
place to live.
“I don’t know how to go on, Daddy. Vivian doesn’t
want me there,” I hiccupped into the phone.
My dad shook his head and ran his fingers through his
hair. “I don’t know what to tell you, baby. We both have to do
things we don’t want to right now. I wish things could be
different, but they can’t.”
“I know,” I whispered. I didn’t want my dad to worry
about me when he was in prison. I’d have to keep my fears to
myself about living with Vivian.
“Go on, I need to talk to your grandma now.” I nodded
my understanding. “I love you, Karmen. Please don’t forget
that.”
“I love you too, Daddy,” I whispered. I hung up the
phone and quickly dashed out of the room before I started
crying in front of him again.
After my grandma spoke to him, we went home, where
she started making dinner and told me to sit at the kitchen table
so we could have a talk.
“We need to get a few things straight, Karmen,” she
said, lighting a cigarette and blowing a puff of smoke in my
direction. “Your father told me you said I didn’t like you. Is
that right?” she asked, staring me down.

I nodded my head yes because there was no point in
lying.
“It’s not that I don’t like you, Karmen, it’s just that I am
well beyond the age of taking care of a teenager. I’m upset with
your father, not you.”

“Okay.”

“I think we will get along just fine if we both just stay
out of the other one's way. I know you are thirteen years old
and more than capable of taking care of yourself. Lord knows
you have been taking care of that sorry excuse for a father
since you were old enough to talk.”
I didn’t argue with her because she was speaking the
truth. I couldn’t remember when my dad and I had switched
roles. I had been taking care of him since I could remember.
“All right then, that’s settled. Now, why don’t you run
to your room and work on your homework or whatever,” she
said, dismissing me with the wave of her hand, as she turned to
the fridge.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I slammed my door
behind me and leaned against it and slid down.
After I wrapped my arms around my raised knees, I
rested my chin on them. I was so angry and upset at my father,
but I had no one to talk to about it. I closed my eyes and banged
my head on the door.
“It’s not fair,” I said to my barren bedroom.
Vivian had only given me a mattress on the floor to
sleep on and a three-drawer dresser.
I had boxes sitting in the corner of things I used to have
in my room, but I didn’t want to take them out of the boxes.
Taking all my pictures and possessions out of the boxes made
this real. As long as I lived out of those boxes, this was all just
a bad dream.
I thought about how putting everything in boxes made
things better and decided to start putting everything I didn’t
want to feel into a box. The first thing I put in my little boxes
was my anger with my father.

Opening that box in my head and placing that anger
inside and then slamming the lid on top helped. I didn’t have to
feel that anger anymore.
Every day, for the past twelve years, I filled my tiny
little boxes. Sad because I was all alone? Put it in a box and
don’t think about it. An “A” on my math test and Vivian
ordering me to go to my room when I tried to tell her? Put it in
a box and don’t think about it.
All through my teenage years, I had probably thousands
of tiny boxes that I neatly put on a shelf and never thought about
again. It even worked well into adulthood. Things always fit
nicely into the boxes.

Everything except for Nickel. As much as I tried to

shove his gorgeous smile in the box, I could never forget about
it.

Almost a year ago, his grandmother was transferred

to the nursing home I worked at as an RN. Every week, on
Tuesday at nine o’clock, he would come in and visit her like
clockwork.

I still remember the day he appeared in her room while I

was checking her blood pressure. He waltzed in as if he
owned the place, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about
him since. His grandmother was one of my favorite patients.
She was sweet but had a smart-ass streak to her.
Every Tuesday, he would hold up a bakery bag and
insist on me staying and having a snack with them. He would
track me down if he didn’t see me in her room and ask me how
my day was going.
He always had a leather vest on that had his name,
Nickel, on it and a huge patch on the back that was the insignia
of the Fallen Lords. All I knew about the Fallen Lords was that
they were a motorcycle club, and they rode bikes everywhere
they went. I was seriously oblivious to everything he was.
The only thing I wasn’t oblivious to was his gorgeous
smile and dark blue eyes. Whenever he was done talking to

me, he always winked and smiled as he walked away. That
wink and smile drove me crazy.
That man was everything I didn’t want in my life, and
that was the exact reason I needed to find a box big enough to
fit him in. I needed to slam the lid down on him and never think
of him again.

If only things were that easy.

**********

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Document Outline

Winter Travers
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty-Six
Coming Soon

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