Biker
Authors: Ashley Harma
Tags: #bad boys, #biker club, #biker romance, #New Adult, #Motorcycle club, #motorcycle romance, #contemporary biker romance
BIKER
By Ashley Harma
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Copyright © 2014 Ashely Harma
This book is a work of fiction and contains adult content not suitable for readers under 18. All characters and references are fictional. All rights reserved.
Chapter One
S
miling at her reflection in the shiny glass of the lobby, Noelle hurried up the stairs toward the condo she shared with her boyfriend Todd. Tossing her newly highlighted hair over her shoulder, she skipped up to the third floor, happy about the way her new blonde highlights brought out the tones of her strawberry blonde tresses—now she had the perfect hair for the perfect vacation.
Noelle sighed happily to herself as she approached her door. Tomorrow morning, she and Todd would be seated in first class on a non-stop flight to Aruba.
Aruba...
it was going to be heavenly...
Not only that, but Noelle was fairly certain that Todd was planning to propose; hence, the manicure she'd gotten today. Being a pediatric nurse, Noelle rarely got a manicure, since her fingers were pretty much encased in latex gloves all day, but it was a luxury well worth splurging on today. She could just picture a glittering diamond sparkling on her finger in the bright Aruba sunshine.
Noelle unlocked the door, and stepped inside in the condo. Todd was standing with his back to her, looking out over the small porch.
“Hey sweetie,” Noelle said softly, dropping her bags and moving to wrap her arms around his waist. She stopped dead in her tracks as Todd turned around and she saw his face...
Something was wrong...
Seriously wrong
...
His face was pale and tired and he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.
“What is it?” Noelle gasped, gripping the back of a chair.
“We need to talk.” His voice was unfamiliar—rough and strangled, with none of the soothing tones that she was used to.
“Okay,” she said slowly, her heart beginning to pound, “Let’s talk.”
Todd's suitcase was in the hallway, but as her eyes glanced nervously around the condo, she realized something wasn’t right. There was a second suitcase packed and waiting in the hall. How many suitcases was he taking to Aruba? And what happened to his college football picture that had been on the table in the foyer? Surely he hadn’t packed that for a vacation!
A feeling of dread began to settle in her stomach.
“Todd, what is going on?”
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Well, you'd better tell me fast,” Noelle said in a shaky voice, closing her eyes. Scenes from her childhood began to flash through her mind, as they often did in times of stress and fear. Pictures of her father sneaking into the house, police cars in the driveway, red and blue lights blazing in through the slits of her blinds, her sister Vivienne crying softly in her bedroom, and the sound of clinking glass and pill bottles being shaken as her mother locked herself in the bathroom.
Noelle forced her eyes open and looked anxiously at Todd.
“Spit it out,” she said, feeling the panic and turmoil rising up inside her.
“I’m leaving,” Todd said flatly.
“Leaving?” she repeated, dazed and disbelieving.
“Leaving you,” he clarified.
No.
Noelle squeezed her eyes shut, and she saw images of young girls hiding in her basement and her father slamming the door shut in her face.
“But you can’t, Todd, We’re going to Aruba tomorrow.” Such a silly statement, but the only thing that she could manage.
“Actually, I’m going to Aruba tomorrow, but you're not.”
“What?”
She felt like a child. Small and inconsequential. Unloved yet again.
“But, we’ve had this trip planned for months. We’ve been living together for two years. I thought you were going to propose...” Noelle’s voice cracked on the last word as she looked down at her perfectly manicured hands. The manicure that was supposed to show off the ring that Todd was going to place on her finger, making her his forever.
“I don’t love you anymore, Noelle,” he explained, his words coming out harshly. “It’s been that way for a long time. I'm in love with someone else.”
Noelle’s head snapped up this time and she felt as if she were emerging from a fog.
“You love someone else!?” she demanded. “What the
fuck
, Todd?”
The glassy, distant look that had come over Todd’s eyes vanished as Noelle’s biting words woke him up.
“Yes,” he said defensively, “I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it did.”
“So when you say that
you
are going to Aruba tomorrow, what you actually mean is that you and some
whore
are going to Aruba tomorrow?”
Todd flinched at the word whore, but let it pass. “Yes,” he said tightly. “I’m sorry, Noelle. I never meant to hurt you and I wanted to tell you but every time I tried, it just—it just didn’t come out. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” Noelle squeaked, her voice entirely too high. “You’re sorry? The night before we leave for vacation, you tell me that you are breaking up with me, and not only that but you are taking someone else on
my
trip and all you manage is a pathetic ‘I'm sorry?’’’
Todd looked down at his shoes.
Noelle felt the heat and embarrassment rise within her. She was just getting started.
“Actually Todd,
I'm
sorry!” she cried, jumping up. “I’m sorry that I wasted three years of my life with you! I’m sorry that I ever let you move into
my
condo with me! I’m sorry that I just spent money on my nails and my hair for a vacation that I’m apparently not going on!” Her eyes flashed with anger as an idea came to her. “You know what? Who’s to stop me from going? I have a ticket with my name on it! I can still go to Aruba if I want to!”
Todd swallowed, twisting his watch on his wrist. “Actually you can’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I booked the tickets and the hotel. And then I changed the one ticket out of your name.”
Noelle didn’t speak for a minute. “When, Todd? When did you change the name?” she asked softly, her voice tight and drawn.
Todd sighed, running his hand along the back of his neck. Clearly, he didn’t want to talk about this. He had wanted this to be a civil break up, but Noelle wasn’t going to let him off easily.
“Two weeks ago.”
“Two weeks ago,” Noelle snarled. “You’ve known for two damned weeks that you weren’t going to take me to Aruba. That you were going to break up with me? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Noelle, please.”
“No! Don’t patronize me! How long have you been seeing this other woman?”
“What does that matter?”
“It matters! I want to know how long I’ve been strung along like a fucking fool while you’ve been screwing someone else!” She felt tears prick her eyes, but she refused to cry in front of Todd—she wouldn’t give him that—she would cry later.
“A year.”
Noelle sank onto the couch, feeling all the fight go out of her. Deflated. Gutted.
“Get out.” she said plainly.
“Noelle.”
“Get the fuck out!”
There was nothing left in her to fight. Todd had made a fool of her, broken her heart, and basically admitted that he hadn’t loved her for some time. Even with her false bravado, there was only so much Noelle could take. She was good at putting up a front, but this was too much for her.
“I’m sorry.”
“No you’re not,” she said looking up at Todd.
“I wanted this to work, really I did. I just let it drag on for too long. I should have told you months ago.”
“Yes. You should have, you coward.”
Slowly, Todd took his suitcases to the door. He went back in the bedroom and emerged with three more duffel bags. Noelle imagined all the things that were tucked away in those bags: his toothbrush and razor, his hideous lime green brush, and the worn pajama pants that he'd saved from his college days; the picture of his mother on her wedding day, and the tie that his grandmother had given him.
The thoughts were almost too much for her. She would mourn later.
“Good bye, Noelle.”
“I hate you,” she whispered.
Todd nodded, looking somewhat defeated, then opened the condo door for the last time and dragged his bags out into the hallway. Sure, he might seem a bit sad now, but he would be flying first class with his new girlfriend tomorrow, headed to sunny Aruba.
“Enjoy your fucking trip!” Noelle shouted as he closed the door.
T
hree hours and two bottles of wine later, Noelle found herself seated between her two best friends, Quinn and Liz.
“He’s an ass,” Quinn assured her.
“An ass clown!” Liz echoed.
Noelle wanted to agree, but instead burst into tears. “How could he do this to me? How could he have been cheating this whole time and I had no idea? And now he’s left me in the lurch with this condo,” she hiccupped loudly, reaching again for her glass of wine. “It's in my name, but I can’t afford it alone,” she wailed.
“Hey, hey...” Quinn soothed, “You can worry about that later.”
“But I’m scared!” Noelle argued. “I can’t afford the mortgage, HOA fees and property taxes, plus all of my school bills!”
“Sweetie, we will deal with that.” Liz’s voice was calm and steady. “Let’s worry about you right now. You can’t sit home all week and mope.”
“Absolutely not,” Quinn chimed in, “You need to come with us to Vegas!”
“Huh?” Noelle looked up at her two friends, momentarily confused.
Liz laughed. “You’ve been so caught up in your Aruba vacation that you completely forgot that your two besties were headed to Vegas for four days. Come on! We can get you a ticket and you can stay with us! We’ve booked a suite at Caesar’s and the pool is ah-mazing!”
“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, you guys leave tomorrow.”
“Hello? You were planning on leaving tomorrow anyway! Come on, Noelle!” Quinn begged.
“Fine! Okay!” It was an easy decision and anything seemed better than wallowing in sadness at home for the next week. After all, Noelle had been looking forward to a week off work. If she stayed home, she would just be miserable grieving over Todd.
“Alright!” Liz cheered. “Pull out your luggage! We need to make sure you’re Vegas ready! And since you’re newly single, you'll need some sexy outfits!”
Noelle stood up, and then caught herself on the edge of the couch.
“And no more wine,” Quinn chirped, stealthily taking the glass and bottle. “The last thing you want is to be hung over on the cross-country flight.”
“You're right. Maybe I should switch to water.”
Liz hurried into the kitchen, and came back with a bottle of water and two Tylenol.
“Take these.”
Noelle followed her instructions, and then let Liz repack her suitcase while Quinn whipped out Noelle’s laptop and booked her flight.
“Well,” Quinn said, closing the laptop a few minutes later, “The good news is I was able to get you on the same flight as us.”
Liz squealed with excitement.
“The bad news is they only had first class available.”
“And that is bad because how?” Liz demanded.
Quinn grinned, “Well, naturally I had to upgrade us to first class too, so we spent a bit more money than planned.”
Liz whooped with excitement, and Noelle couldn’t help but laugh in spite of herself. She still felt raw and as if she had been run over by a truck, but at least the next few days would help keep her mind off everything; and knowing Quinn and Liz, there was no way they were going to let her have time to mope around.
“Alright,” Quinn said, taking charge again, “Your ticket is booked, your bag is packed, and we are trying to stop your hangover. I think the next order of business is sleep. I’ll set the alarm on your phone, and Liz and I will come over and pick you up at eight in the morning.”
Noelle nodded, happy that Quinn was taking charge.
Todd had left her.
She and Todd were over.
There would be no ring. No wedding. No happily ever after.
Her mother’s words echoed in her head, “You’ll be nothing, just like me.”
Oh, but that wasn’t true.
Noelle
was
something. She had escaped her parents, she and Vivienne both. She had a home—though she didn’t know how she would afford it now—and she had a career that allowed her to help children. No one had been able to help her, but she had turned out quite healthy and relatively stable, luckily.
Noelle thought of Vivienne, and she felt a pang of longing and sadness for her older sister. Vivienne
had
saved her before too much damage had been done, and Vivienne had sacrificed so much. Noelle wished she could see her more often, but sometimes it was too painful, and she knew Vivienne felt the same way. She made a mental note to reach out to her sister once she was back from Vegas.