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Authors: Honey Palomino
WRECKED: GODS OF CHAOS MC, BOOK FOUR
OTHER TITLES BY HONEY PALOMINO
WRECKED
GODS OF CHAOS MC
BOOK FOUR
HONEY PALOMINO
Copyright © 2016 by HONEY PALOMINO
All Rights Reserved Worldwide
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without permission from the author. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, events, locations and incidences are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This book is for entertainment purposes only.
This book contains mature content and is intended for adults only.
Jesse
They say all great changes are preceded by chaos.
We didn’t know it then, but our lives were about to be swept away by chaos.
But at that moment in time, there was nothing but innocence.
The kind of innocence that only young kids know. The kind of innocence that engulfs you when you fall in love for the first time. The kind of innocence that’s ripped from you later once the world starts to have its way with you.
But right there in that one precious innocent moment, it was perfect. It was peaceful.
There was no chaos.
There was only love.
There was only me. And there was only her. And the love we had for each other.
And in that moment, that was the only thing we needed.
“Tell me something you’ve never told anyone,” Frankie said. Her head rested on my chest and together we stared up at the sparkling stars of the midnight blue Oregon sky. She shivered in my arms, and I wrapped the wool Pendleton blanket around us tighter, the wind so cold it ripped right through the blanket, but we didn’t notice.
“We’ve spent the last three months glued to each other’s sides, babe,” I said, leaning down and pushing away her long black hair to kiss her neck. “I think you’ve heard everything there is to hear about me.”
“There’s gotta be something,” she whispered, as if she didn’t want to disturb the stars.
I tensed beside her as the memory gripped me. I usually didn’t let myself think about it anymore, but it was really the only secret I had.
And it was a stupid secret. I hated it. But it was mine.
It didn’t matter to anyone but me - that’s why I’d never told anyone before.
“Alright, there’s one thing,” I said, after a long sigh. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but it’s all I can think of.”
“I knew there was something,” she smiled up at me, her beauty shining brighter than any star above us.
God, I loved her. I loved her so fucking much. My feelings for her gripped me so fucking tight there were times when I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I’d never been in love before, and neither had Frankie, but we’d gotten so wrapped up in each other that we were completely consumed by love.
“Well, it’s not anything good, so don’t get too excited,” I warned, “in fact, you have to promise not to tell anyone, okay? For like - your whole life. I’ve never told anyone before.”
“I promise,” Frankie said, holding out her pinkie and hooking it onto mine before brushing a quick kiss against my lips. “Pinky swear.”
“Alright,” I nodded, lowering my voice, even though I knew there wasn’t another soul for miles. “Well, it’s about my dad. I told you about him, remember?”
“Of course, how could I forget? He sounds awful.”
“The alcohol made him awful,” I said, the details of the memory flooding back like a damn had burst open inside of me. “When he wasn’t drunk, he wasn’t too bad. But I think I only really saw him sober twice, so yeah - I guess he was pretty awful.”
Frankie reached down and squeezed my hand, pulling it up and pressing it against the warmth of her heart, her heartbeat pulsing into the middle of my palm.
She was so good. So strong. So fucking alive. And she made
me
feel alive just being around her. More alive than I’d ever felt before.
“Anyway, I told you Ma and I split when I was seven, but I never really told you why,” I continued, staring up at the sky, the same stars shining down on me that had been there my whole life. “It was Christmas night. They had a fight. A bad one. He hit her, hard. Busted her lip and gave her a black eye. Afterwards, he’d passed out cold right under the Christmas tree, like he was some sad gift that had been discarded and forgotten. He was drooling and he’d pissed his pants. It was an awful sight.” I shuddered now, the image clear as the stars above us, even now, after all these years. “We packed all our stuff and left him lying there under the blinking lights. I’ll never forget it,” I said, the hair on the back of my neck standing up like I was being haunted by the memories.
“Wow,” Frankie whispered.
“Yeah, but here’s the thing. We never went back but he kept living in the same shitty trailer after we left,” I said. “Five years later, we got a call from the landlord. He said they hadn’t seen him in a few weeks and rent was late, so I went over to his place. Ma refused to go, so I went alone. I was only twelve.”
It was hard to form the words that I’d never before let pass my lips. I took a deep breath, summoning the courage to keep going.
“The key was hidden under the mat, same as it’d always been. I let myself in after he didn’t answer the door. He was dead on the couch. Probably been lying there dead for several days.”
“You found him yourself? Oh, no! I’m so sorry, baby,” Frankie said, her eyes full of empathy. I reached up and caressed her cheek, relishing the silky feel of her skin under my fingertips.
“That’s not the secret,” I continued. “It was that fucking tree.”
“The Christmas tree?” her eyes widened.
“Yep. The same fucking one. It was still up. He’d left it there all those fucking years. I can’t believe it didn’t catch fire. The lights were still plugged in, but of course, they’d all burnt out by then. Everything else was the same, except all the needles had fallen to the ground. The same ornaments, the same garland made out of the same stupid fucking popcorn my mom had insisted we pop that day, falling apart and disintegrating,” I paused, my heart racing as I relived it. “The same stupid star still sitting where I’d placed it on top, completely covered in five years of dust. It was unbelievable.”
“Wow!” Frankie said.
“Yeah, I know. It fucking freaked me out. So much so, that before I called the cops or anyone else, I pulled the tree into the backyard and set fire to it first.”
“Oh, my god!” Frankie said. “Why?”
“Because I couldn’t look at it,” I said, shaking my head. “For some reason, it was worse than seeing his bloated dead body. It was just a symbol of how fucked up everything was, how fucked up
he
was, you know? I knew the cops would make me leave his place once they arrived.. And I knew then that a bunch of other cops and the medical examiners would be milling around his house - they’d all see the dry, dead tree, and I was embarrassed for him, you know? I was embarrassed that his life was so sad and pathetic that he kept that fucking tree all that time.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” she asked.
“Who was I going to tell?” I shrugged. “I was embarrassed for him, but I was embarrassed for myself too, even though I know it doesn’t make any sense. Maybe it’s because I came from that dysfunction, you know? That pathetic mess of a human being created me. I’m ashamed to have come from him.”
“You didn’t tell your Mom?”
“Nah,” I replied. “I was going to. But when I told her he died, she was so smug about it. Said she knew he’d never get out of the gutter he was in. I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I guess I just didn’t want to give her that, too, you know?”
“Yeah…” she said, snuggling into my side and wrapping her legs around my thighs. I pulled her in close, inhaling the sweet scent of her hair.
“Thanks for telling me,” she whispered.
“I’ll never tell anyone else that for the rest of my life.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” she said, lifting her face to mine as I kissed her gently.
“I love you, Frankie,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around her.
“I love you, too, Jesse,” she whispered back.
“Forever?” I asked, peering down at her, my heart so full of love I thought I might burst into pieces and become star dust in her eyes.
“Forever,” she whispered. “Forever and ever and ever…”
I kissed her again, our vows drifting up into the darkness like a promise to the Gods, our fate sealed with the powerful light of the stars.
***
The moon hung full and bright over our heads, signaling the end of another magical evening with Frankie.
“I guess I should be getting home,” she whispered. “I don’t want to worry him.”
Him.
Her father.
Frank Moretti, the most famous plastic surgeon on the West Coast.
“No, of course not,” I said, sitting up and pulling her with me. I respected Frankie’s father. He’d raised Frankie all alone, after her mother died of cancer when she was a little girl. He was a wonderful father to her and he’d welcomed me into their lives with open arms, even though I’m from the wrong side of the tracks in Estacada.
“If we leave now, we’ll get you back in time for curfew,” I said. We gathered our blankets from the bed of my pickup and hopped in the cab. Frankie scooted over, sitting as close to me as possible as I put my arm around her and headed towards the road.
“Tomorrow’s date night,” I reminded her. Even though we saw each other every day at school and spent most of each night together that we were able to, we still made a point to have a date night every Wednesday. It was my only night off from work at Freddy’s, the grocery store in town, and I’d been taking her out every week on a real date every Wednesday. “Where do you want to go?”
“Honestly, babe? Let’s come out here again. We can bring a picnic, stare up at the stars, tell some more secrets,” she said, an angelic smile spreading across her beautiful face.
“What baby wants, baby gets,” I replied, dipping my head and planting a kiss on her forehead, before turning my attention back to the road.
“I’ll pack the picnic,” she said. “Oh, I know! I’ll bake you a cake! What’s your favorite kind?” she asked, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
“Carrot cake, maybe?” I said. “I like all kinds, though. Whatever you make, I’m sure it will be delicious.”
“Carrot cake was my Mom’s favorite, too. I’ll make one. You’ll love it,” she said.
“I’d love anything you made,” I replied.
“You’re biased,” she quipped.
“Yep, I sure am,” I replied, as we drove up to her house.
Frankie lived in Happy Valley, where all the houses costs a half million more than they were worth, just to keep the riffraff out. It worked. Frankie’s house was one of the more modest ones on the block, but much nicer than anything in my neighborhood.
“Looks like my dad has company,” Frankie said, as I turned off the car. Her father’s black Jaguar was parked in the driveway, looking like a sleek cat about to pounce. A black SUV with tinted windows was parked next to it. “Kinda late for company,” she murmured.
“Does this mean I get to keep you here longer?” I asked.
“I wish,” she said. She removed her seatbelt and pulled herself on top of me, straddling my lap behind the wheel of my truck. I rested my hands on her hips, pulling her close as she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me deeply. When she finally pulled away, I was a hot disaster of teenaged horniness. And I knew exactly what was going to happen if she stayed in that position much longer. Groaning with regret, I pulled her off of me and sat her next to me on the seat.