The next morning dawned way too early for Steele, and he knew that he had to bring it. Rooster had brought him in on something that he had absolutely no idea about. He just knew that his cousin had pointed him in the direction of something that maybe the Heaven Hill MC needed to be aware of. He met the guys, just like he promised to do, and took them out deep into Richardsville. Even though he had grown up on these roads, he hated them. They were so curvy, with twists and blind curves that made him nervous. There had to be a reason that Rooster had brought them all the way out there. At one point, they had to pull off to let other people come through the road, even though they were on bikes."This shit is crazy," Jagger breathed. "I've lived in this area my entire life and never knew this shit existed.""This is why the county always took snow days last winter and everybody in town bitched 'cause there was nothing on the roads in Bowling Green. It was slick as snot out here.""Ar
Afternoon around the Square in Bowling Green was different depending on what time of year it was, Christine was learning. In the late summer or early fall, there were usually concerts in the park, or they were setting up for the Saturday "buy local" events. Now that they were moving into the winter months, she noticed that it wasn't as busy throughout the day, and at lunchtime it was downright dead. She never seemed to know what would happen from day to day, but she liked that. Routine had been something that Clinton had thrived on, and while she did like a little bit of routine, there was another part of her that liked to live by the seat of her pants. That part of her was Jagger through and through. The phone rang, and she jumped before shaking her head and picking it up."Thank you for calling the Curly-Q, can I help you?"She always had to bite back a snicker whenever she pronounced the name of the hair shop she now worked at, but she loved this place. She didn't know now what
"It was the summer we turned sixteen," Rooster started. "We were wild," he pointed to Liam, "and my parents didn't know what to do with me. Up until then, I had done whatever they told me to do, but that summer—it was all about rebellion."Liam couldn't help the half-grin that spread across his face. "Hell, even old William didn't know what to do with me. We'd both gotten a couple of piece-of-shit bikes out of the scrapyard, and we'd worked the last half of the school year putting them together. They were in good enough shape to run—not to run for a long time, but run, and that's all we needed."Rooster picked up the sentiment. "We just needed the wind through our hair and the open road in front of us. The open road didn't care what kind of grades we made, what time we came home, who we made out with behind the clubhouse." His eyes sought out Roni and a flash of recognition showed there."As much as Rooster's parents didn't want him hangin' out with a boy whose dad was the leader
Waiting until Christine got off work was one of the hardest things that Travis had ever done. He'd given himself a pep talk about what a pussy he was being, how he needed to man up and tell this woman what he needed her to do. He'd told himself he needed to tell her there would be no more of this secrecy, that she was going to be truthful with him. If she couldn't be truthful, he was going to cut her loose. That's what he'd told himself.As her car pulled into her driveway, the fight almost went out of him. He had never been the one that all the women looked up to, he didn't have the air of authority that Liam had, the dangerous edge that Tyler did, the good looks that got Jagger everything he wanted, or the wounded soul that Layne carried around (as he should) like a badge of honor. Travis had always been plain Pete. Nothing was special about him, except for his mind. Now, he was scared that this woman had used it, not in the way that other people used it, but used it to get to him
"Clinton was a very bad man," she started. Finally, he had a name. Even with just a first name, sometimes he could find out who people were. He was one of the best at what he did, no matter who or what he usually did it for. "In what way?" he asked, even though he had some sort of idea. It seemed like it would help to ask her questions, that way she didn't have to necessarily offer anything. She appeared to struggle with the answer, even though he had provided the question. "He was mean. You know how some people are just evil? That was him." There had been a glint to his eye, even the first day she'd come to the home. The way he looked at her, it was as if someone was walking on her grave, and at that point, she'd known she was in trouble. She had begged her father not to leave her there, had prayed that Jagger would show up every day, but he never came, and her father never came back either."When did you find out?" He was storing all the information in his head, so that he co
The thought of running had crossed Christine's mind many times the night before, especially after she had put on her show for Travis, but something happened in the early hours of the morning. She wondered when it would stop. When would she be able to stop running? When would she ever be able to have a normal life again? It was at her fingertips right now, and she knew that. What would it help anyone if she just gave up? Why did she fight so hard to leave if she was going to live the rest of her life in fear? It was 5 AM when she texted Travis and let him know that he could come get her. The best place for her to be was obviously at the Heaven Hill clubhouse, even if that meant seeing Jagger again. She hated that she was going to spring this on him, that she wasn't going to be able to ease him into it, but perhaps that was for the best. Especially, if like everyone said, he thought her dead. Hell, he might not even recognize her now; after everything that had happened, sometimes she
"So this is the infamous Christine Stone?"Christine did her best not to be intimidated by the man who stood before her, but authority oozed off of him in waves. He wore it like a badge of honor—it almost reminded her of Clinton."This is her." The don't-be-a-dick tone of Travis' voice told Liam that maybe he had laid it on a little too thick, but they were all on edge. Someone was threatening the club and members of their family."Why don't you have a seat?" he asked, sitting at his kitchen table.She did so, breathing a sigh of relief when Travis sat down beside her. She was half afraid that Liam would say he couldn't be a part of what was starting to feel very much like an interrogation."I'm not trying to scare you, honestly I'm not," Liam started, as he reached over and pulled a cigarette out of a pack that sat on the table. "You want one?" he offered it to her.After her experience moments before, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to touch a cigarette again in her life.
Travis sat in his cave later that night, checking on Heaven Hill's interests. As he scanned the cameras, he saw a car pull up to Roni's apartment building. It wasn't unusual for someone to park in her other parking spot, but this car looked familiar. Doing what he did best, he tapped into the Wi-Fi of the apartment building's security cameras and zoomed in."Well, I'll be damned," he chuckled. Rooster was making his way up the sidewalk, and miracle of all miracles, he wasn't dressed in his sheriff's uniform. Dare he say that Rooster looked like he was about to go out on a date? He shook his head as Roni let his cousin in and quickly shut the door. He clicked out of that feed and took a look at everything else. It all looked closed up for the night, and he was exhausted. The last few weeks had taken a lot out of him, and all he wanted to do was close his eyes for a week and catch up on all the sleep that he missed. It wasn't unusual for him to go on little sleep, but it was star