Craving Redemption by Nicole Jacquelyn
Prologue
Callie
I’d gotten a call from my baby brother almost three months earlier, telling me he’d been shot, but not to worry. Who did he think he was talking to? I’d been taking care of him since the day they brought him home from the hospital—that wasn’t likely to stop just because he was doing God knows what in some town in Oregon. I’d never stop worrying about what was going on with him, just like he’d never stop standing between me and the world. That was why he was in this mess in the first place—why he gave up his education at one of the most prestigious universities in the country and joined a motorcycle club—leaving me all alone.
I hadn’t had any say in the matter. He’d left with Asa that day a year ago and I’d been too wrapped up with holding myself together to be able to stop it. I’d been such a mess—in shock and trying to figure out how it had played out the way it had. But I was no longer that broken girl who allowed herself to be patted on the head and told that everything was going to be okay. I was going to bring my brother home, no matter what I had to do.
When I pulled up to the gate, there was a man leaning against the fence outside. When he saw me, his shoulders stiffened for a minute before relaxing again as if he wasn’t overly concerned about what I was doing there. That was his first mistake. Then he grinned at me, checking me out and staring at my chest as he started toward my car. That was his second mistake. His third mistake was to walk up to my window and lean in, never even glancing at my hand that rested in my lap.
If he had seen me as a threat instead of staring at my boobs, he wouldn’t have been so surprised when I pressed the Taser against his chest.
Once he was down, I got out and rolled open the gate in front of my car. I was glad, but a little baffled, that there was no lock on the gate. They must have trusted whoever was guarding the gate to keep intruders out. Their mistake.
I started back for my car, skirting around the man lying on the gravel. I wanted to just leave him there. I really did. But the light was fading, and I was afraid if I left him lying there in the middle of the driveway someone would drive right over his ass. So instead of hopping in my car and heading down the road before someone could catch me, I leaned over and grabbed both of his ankles. It took me forever to drag him to the side of the road, and by the time I got him settled he’d begun to twitch as if he was waking up. I needed to get the hell out of there.
I once again walked toward my car, grabbing his phone off the ground as I passed it. If he woke up before I got to the big house, or whatever the f*ck it was called, I didn’t want him warning anyone I was coming. I didn’t need them waiting for me. The only thing I had going for me at the moment was the element of surprise.
I pulled the car through the gate, but my conscience wouldn’t let me just leave things as they were. Jesus, I needed to stop having such a freaking bleeding heart. I left my car running and quickly ran back to shut the gate before heading down the road. They weren’t going to be thankful that I knocked out their guard, but at least I didn’t leave the gate open. That had to somehow work in my favor.
When I pulled up to the huge building, I could see there was some sort of gathering going on, but it didn’t stop me. Not once did I think I should come back or wait until a better time. I was on a mission to get my brother the hell out of there and nothing was going to stop me.
I knew it was a bad idea—knew the entire trip was one step away from a clusterf*ck—and as soon as I saw Asa I took that final step. I was so consumed by rage; my vision had darkened at the edges. It was his fault. All of it; from the son I had at home in some shitty worn down apartment, to the fact that my brother was living in some biker compound in the middle of goddamn nowhere ruining his life and ultimately getting shot. It could all be traced back to Asa. The bastard.
There was a couple standing outside when I pulled up, but before I could even get my rental car’s door open, the man was shouting toward the building. I couldn’t understand what he was saying over the pounding in my ears. I was finally there; I knew it from the leather vest that the man was wearing. It was almost identical to the one Asa had worn for as long as I’d known him.
I knew I looked like a crazy person, but when men started swarming out of the club, I used the only protection I had and started waving the Taser around. I was hoping they wouldn’t be able to tell what it was until I could figure out what the hell I was going to do. I hadn’t thought things through very well. I’d been so anxious to get there that the ramifications of driving into a Motorcycle Club’s compound uninvited had barely crossed my mind.
Just as I was beginning to get really scared, I saw Asa walking through the group and all the anger inside me wiped away any fear I had felt. That’s when I started screaming.
“You f*cking dick!” I yelled, my voice sounding tinny and quiet in my ears, though my throat was aching with the power behind it. “Where the f*ck is my brother?”
He started walking toward me, and the look on his face had me retreating. “The f*ck are you doing here, Callie?” he yelled back, running his fingers through his hair. “You’re outta your goddamn mind!”
I wasn’t thinking straight. I was scared that I wouldn’t see my brother in the sea of faces before me, afraid that he hadn’t been telling the truth when he’d told me he was fine. It had taken months of eating ramen noodles to save up enough money to come get him, and I was terrified that I was too late to help him.
I was still taking backward steps toward my car as I screamed at Asa, searching the crowd for any sign of my baby brother and finding none. He wasn’t there. Oh God, he wasn’t there.
I’d started to panic by the time Asa reached me and didn’t hear much of what he said as he pried the Taser from my fingers. My heart was so loud in my ears, and my breath was coming at such a fast pace, that I knew it was only a manner of minutes before I passed out. It had happened once before, and though I tried to beat it, I just couldn’t get enough air in my lungs. Oh God, where was Cody? Why wasn’t he there, in between me and Asa, making peace and wrapping his arms around me? He had to have heard us yelling; if he were there, he would have come for me by then.
When Asa tossed the Taser to the ground, effectively disarming me and making me completely defenseless, I snapped. Completely and utterly lost it.
I swung my fist at his face, grazing his jaw as he twisted to dodge it. I didn’t stop there, though. I was on autopilot, using every single move I knew to hurt him. I wanted him to hurt as much as I hurt. I wanted to punish him and I set out to do it with a single-minded intent that would have scared me, had I been thinking clearly. He let me hit and kick him for a few seconds before wrapping me up in his arms and lifting me off the ground. When I swung at his face again, he pressed it into my neck where I couldn’t reach, so I pounded on his back instead. My mind was completely blank beyond the need to hurt him, my throat making little sounds of distress that I wasn’t even aware of.
The harder I struggled, the gentler he became; his arms more comforting than punishing, even though I was acting like a crazy woman. When I ran out of options and my arms and legs felt like lead, I made a last ditch effort to punish him and bit down on his shoulder as hard as I could, tasting blood but refusing to let go.
His voice broke through when my body became too exhausted to fight anymore and my mind finally began to clear.
“It’s okay, baby. He’s fine. He’s fine. It’s okay. Shhh,” he told me quietly, rubbing my back softly even though it must have hurt like hell where I had my teeth clamped down on the muscle of his shoulder. My breath caught on a sob as I finally relaxed my jaw and let my body go limp, instinctively knowing he would never let me fall. I tilted my head back and looked up at him through my tears, silently begging him to fix things. He brushed my face gently, rubbing at the blood on my cheeks as my entire body jerked with silent sobs.
“F*ck, baby, what were you f*ckin’ thinkin’?” he asked me before sliding his mouth down over my nose to my lips.
While surrounded by angry bikers, with his blood on my mouth and tears running down my face, he kissed me for the first time in three years.
God, I loved him.