BROKEN ROAD (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novella) (8 page)

BOOK: BROKEN ROAD (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novella)
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Jake kissed Keira

s neck and then shut his eyes.

I am

completely

fucked

thirteen
.

 

It wasn

t the first time Keira woke up with a biker next to
her in bed. That was something she wasn

t
exactly proud of. But waking next to Jake was something different. The sight of
him on his back was wild. His arm bent, covering his face. The ridges and
rippled of muscle showing everywhere. His t-shirt pulled up a little, showing
off deep cuts and lines that went right into his jeans.

Keira took a few breaths and
collected herself. It was damn near impossible to resist her urge to climb on
top of him and just

Fuck.

Yeah, exactly.

Forcing herself out of bed, Keira
stumbled to the kitchen. She made coffee and scrambled some eggs. It strangely
felt okay to make breakfast like this. Casually looking over her shoulder,
waiting to see Jake appear.

When he did, she gripped the edge
of the kitchen sink to keep herself standing. He was like a giant to her. His
shoulders wider than yesterday, even though that wasn

t possible. Sleep in his outlaw eyes, a hand
running through his hair.


How
long have you been up?

he
asked, his voice throaty and pissed off.


Just
a little bit. I made coffee and eggs.


You
should have gotten me up. It

s
not safe.


I

m fine, Jake.


I
don

t play fucking games,
babe. This isn

t
house
for me, okay?

Keira swallowed hard.

Yeah, okay. Sorry.

Jake groaned and ran a hand through
his hair again.

Shit. I

m sorry for saying that. Thank
you for making food. And I

d
love some coffee. Black, please.

Jake sat and Keira gave him a plate
of food. Before she could offer anything to go with it, Jake inhaled the eggs.
He chugged the hot coffee like it was a glass of water. Keira just stood in awe
of the man at the table. She knew he wasn

t
normal. He wasn

t just some
wanderer from some town at some bar looking for some action.

Who are you, really?

The question was on her lips but
then there was a thundering boom at the door.

Jake jumped up and went into
action. He knocked the chair back. He grabbed the plate and smashed it off the
edge of the table, shattering it. That left him with two jagged pieces in his
hands.

Keira

s
jaw almost hit the floor.

Jake nodded to her.


Who
is it?

she called out.


What
the fuck? It

s Kami!

Jake tossed the broken pieces of
plate to the table.

As Keira opened the door, Jake
cleaned up his mess. Kami rushed into the apartment, looking like death had
washed over him.


Where
…”
Kami saw Jake on the floor.

What the hell?


Broke
a plate,

Jake said. He
stood up and put the pieces on the table with the others.

What

s up?


What

s up?

Kami asked.

I
sent you, Jake, to check on my sister and you never fucking came back. What the
fuck
…”


The
cartel was here,

Keira
blurted out.

Last night. A
guy was waiting for me. Jake came and beat him up. Saved me. I begged him to
stay.


You
didn

t call me?

Kami asked, staring at Jake.


Hey,
man, everyone was drunk. I took care of it.


Fuck
you, man. You

re not
wearing a cut yet!

Kami
yelled and then rubbed his temples.


He
helped me,

Keira said.

I was afraid to be alone. It

s my fault, Kami.

Kami rubbed his forehead.

I need more coffee.

Keira hurried to give him a cup.


The
guy was cartel,

Jake said.

I got him good though. I
sent him back to his rathole.


I
told him to kill the guy,

Keira said.


No,

Kami said.

Christ, no. That would have sent
an army on us.


That

s what Jake said,

Keira said.


Smart
man,

Kami said, nodding to
Jake.

Hey, look
…”


No,

Jake said.

It

s
done. But Keira needs protection. All the time now.


Agreed,

Kami said.

Hey, where

d you sleep, Jake?


On
the floor,

Keira said.

To watch the door.

Kami looked at Jake.

Nobody came back. I don

t think the guy expected me to
show up. And I was a stranger.


So
they know we

re recruiting,

Kami said.

Fuck. We need to get to the
snake
pit
. Now.


Now?

Keira asked, grabbing Kami

s shoulder.

Kami tore her hand away.

Right now.


I

m ready,

Jake said.

Whatever
we have to do.


Something
about
you
ain

t right,
man,

Kami said. He stood
up.

You look too eager to
get there. It

s where
people go to die, man.


Then
I

ll die,

Jake said.

Better than sitting around doing
nothing.

Keira felt her heart jump. That was
a subtle shot at Kami.

Kami stepped toward Jake.

You think I

m doing nothing? Watch your
fucking mouth, man. You

ll
be back on the road before you know it.


You
need me, Kami,

Jake said.

Whoever you put in front of me
at this
snake pit

I

ll fucking crush them. For the
club. For Keira. Get the money you need. Get the protection. Fix the problems.


You
talk like a leader, bro,

Kami said.


I
have nothing to lose. Except what

s
right in this room.

Keira felt her cheeks flush. Jake
looked ready to attack Kami yet he had just said something that was probably
the most romantic thing Keira had maybe ever heard.


You

re wrong about one thing,

Kami said.


What

s that?

Jake asked.


It

s not
at the snake pit

it

s
in the snake pit
…”


I
want to go,

Keira said.


What?

Kami asked.


She
should be there,

Jake
said.

Protection. She shouldn

t be alone at all, no matter
what.

Kami put a finger to Jake

s shirt.

Let me make another thing clear, Jake. I appreciate
what you did last night. Man to man, you

ve
got my respect. You took care of my sister for me. But member to non-member,
learn your fucking spot. Don

t
ever give me orders or suggestions, got that? I

m
the fucking VP of Rusted Devil. You

re
a rung un a prospect, and you know what a prospect does? They clean the shit I
leave in the toilet. Win this fight and I

ll
let you clean my shit.

Keira saw the anger flash in Jake

s eyes. She knew Jake could take
her stepbrother. She hurried to distract Kami, offering him some pills for his
headache and more hot coffee.


I

m going to the bar,

Jake said.

I

ll
talk to Apollo and get times on what

s
happening today.


I

ll meet you there,

Kami said.


Jake,

Keira said.

Thanks
…”

But it was too late, Jake was out
the door, slamming it shut behind him.


You

re an asshole, Kami,

Keira said.

He fucking saved me.


Good
for him,

Kami said.

Don

t get attached to him. He

s an idiot for walking into the
snake pit
.


Yeah?
Why aren

t you going into
it?

Kami looked at Keira and curled his
lip.

Don

t run your mouth at me. I

ve paid my dues. It

s his turn now. Plus, I don

t know if I trust him. He

s too smart for his own good. He
wins this fight and we get this cash
…”

Kami flickered a smile.

That

s
when it hit Keira.

No matter what, Jake was going to
lose

even if he won.

Kami and Apollo just wanted the
cash.
That meant even if Jake won the fight, they were going to get rid of
him.

fourteen
.

 


Drink
up,

Apollo said and pushed
the shot at Jake.

Might be
your last one.


I

m good. I need my head clear,

Jake said.


Suicide.
Going into the
snake pit
without some kind of buzz.


I

ll take my chances. In fact, I

m going to go for a ride.
Pre-fight thing for me.


Yeah,
sure,

Apollo said.

I

d
rather have some chick suck my cock dry. That

s
just me. You have an hour, Jake. Go for a ride. Have a beer. Fuck something.
Get it all out.


I

m going to do this, Apollo.


If
I had a dime every time I heard someone say that to me

I would be a very rich man
…”

Apollo laughed. The rest of the bar
laughed.

Jake left the bar and got on the
motorcycle. It didn

t feel
right because it wasn

t
his. But it was his ride for now.

He rode fast out of the parking lot
and checked his mirrors every few seconds to make sure he wasn

t being followed. Sadly, the
guys in Rusted Devil MC weren

t
smart enough to follow. They wanted to drink and think about what to do next.
Jake was more of an action guy.

He went to the spot where he had
buried his cut.

As he dug in the dirt, he found a
note waiting just above his leather cut. He brushed the dirt off the leather
and stared at the Back Down Devil MC logo.

Someday soon

That was probably a lie.

The note was from Gaige.

 

Brother -

 

Sorry to write you this. I know
you haven

t
been gone long. Shit is getting crazy in Frelen. Keep you
r
focus
straight up there, Jake. I know word travels fast so I

d rather you read these
words than hear anything.

I

m really sorry, brother, but Becca is dead.
We think she was taken out by the guy you roughed up. Or maybe someone else.
Her apartment was trashed, money on the floor, drugs on the floor. It was a
disaster when we got the call and I

ve
already sent guys out on the move to take care of it. I know you and her had a
history. It

s
only out of respect I wanted to tell
you
so you know right away.

It

s all bullshit, Jake, but we know she

s in a better place now.
She can

t get
high and can

t
get in trouble.

Hope you

re safe up there,
brother. Stay that way. Get some information and get back here to Frelen.

 

-
    
Gaige

 

Jake dropped to his ass, right on
the ground in the dirt. He leaned against the rock and folded up the paper.
Guilt soared through Jake

s
body. He always knew it would end like this with Becca. Her only destiny was to
be murdered. No matter how much Jake tried to protect her, she was going to
wind up dead. Part of him wished he could have loved her. Like really loved
her. Pulled her out of the fire and away from the demons. But it wasn

t his job. They were close but
not that close.

Then again, here was Jake, kissing
Keira, his fingers exploring her sweet body, his heart demanding more, all the
while Becca was suffering.


Fuck,

Jake whispered.

He thought he

d helped Becca by clearing out
her apartment. Killing that guy would have done nothing good because it wasn

t club business. It was personal
business. It was the fire that Becca couldn

t
stop touching, no matter how many times she got burned.

The world weighed down hard on Jake

s shoulders.

He decided to write back to Gaige
with a simple message.

Jake had seen enough.

 

Gaige -

 

It

s bad but not exactly bad for us, yet. These
guys either need to be wiped out or offered some help. I

m going to help them earn
some cash and then I

m
out.

Check back here as much as you
can. It

s
almost time for me to ride again.

The cartel is strong and they

ve turned their backs on
Rusted Devil MC. The MC wants nothing to do with the cartel though. There

s no double-cross
bullshit.

I

ll be safe

when I

m
dead.

 

-
    
Jake

 

Jake leaned forward and got on his
knees. He touched his leather cut and felt the sting of pain in his heart. He
wanted to put the leather cut on. He wanted to walk back to the Rusted Devil
bar and give them all the advice they fucking needed.

All he could offer though were his
fists and his heart. The heart of a fighter.

Keira swirled through his mind like
a smooth and potent whiskey. He never had a woman stick to him like that
before.

Then again, Becca was right there
in the back of his mind too. He was supposed to care for her. He was supposed
to love her. He was supposed to protect her. But she couldn

t take care of herself. So what
made it seem like Keira could take care of herself? Not to mention how deep she
was

her stepbrother was
the VP of the Rusted Devil MC. That alone put Jake and Keira at opposite ends
of the world. Now that Jake had gone undercover and let his lies spread through
the MC, it made it worse.

Jake knew all he could do was
fight. Help the MC get some cash, let them gear up for a war with the cartel,
and then slip away. He could take his regret, guilt, and heartache back to Back
Down Devil MC and take care of himself.

Jake buried his reply and his
leather cut. He then stood and turned, only to see he wasn

t alone.

There was a black car sitting just
a short distance away.

Waiting.

Who the hell are they waiting
for?
Jake thought.

The answer came a few seconds
later, with the rumble of a couple motorcycle engines.

Jake then watched in shock as
two members of Rusted Devil MC approached

BOOK: BROKEN ROAD (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novella)
6.45Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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