Cease (Bayonet Scars Book 7)
J.C. Emery
For Dawn.
For the last three years of f-bombs, unruly characters, and screwdrivers in inappropriate places.
DEATH SILENCES. LOVE ECHOES.
Ruby Buckley is no stranger to loss. She lost her twins in their infancy, lost her son to his demons, and lost herself to a life she never wanted.
Until him.
Jim Stone is lost. He's a father who doesn't know how to parent, a brother who doesn't know why he ever patched in, and is completely numb to everything around him.
Until her.
Craving normalcy, Ruby wants to live straight, but that's easier said than done when a member of the Forsaken Motorcycle Club is determined to make her his old lady. She's plagued by a past she can't escape. He vows to give her a better future, even if means delivering the impossible.
But falling in love was only the beginning.
Twenty years later and they're still going strong, even if the world around them is crumbling. Jim's put his club on the line and given Ruby the impossible– her now adult twins she thought she'd lost forever. She has everything she's always wanted.
But at what cost?
Love is never more real than when it's forever.
CHAPTER 1
Ruby
Brooklyn, New York April 2016
Mancuso's downfall
Time after time, I never cease to be amazed at how deeply I can be hurt.
Just a flesh wound, Mama.
Jim's words echo in my mind over and over again. They're all I hear as I watch my husband--the man who taught me that men can be good--being lifted into the back of the van by his brothers. Blood pools at the bottom of his vest and drips to the pavement.
My daughter--the precious baby I thought I'd lost forever--is being carried to the van by the boy who became my son at the age of eight. She's lost so much blood. The dark red liquid completely covers her face, neck, and chest. My heart falls into my stomach as I catch sight of the blood smeared all over Ryan's cut and his face.
My husband's been gutted, and my daughter's been sliced open.
Both bleeding.
One dying.
Maybe two.
Hopefully none.
And all I can think about is my own selfish need to keep them with me. If I'm not a mother to my daughter or a wife to my husband, then I don't know who I am. I'll still have my sons--all three of them--but it's not the same. My boys don't need me the way my man and my girl do. I won't get to hang on to Michael for much longer. He's a Mancuso, and he'll be staying in New York to take over the family--and it doesn't matter how I feel about that. Ian, my eldest, has his wife, Mindy. He thinks he still needs me, but he doesn't. Ryan, the boy I have to remind myself isn't really mine, has Alex. My daughter.
If we lose her, there's nothing anyone can do to make it better. Ryan will never recover, and neither will I. He'll shut down, just like Rage did when we lost Sylvia, and even I won't be able to reach him then.
If we lose Jim, we lose our rock. I lose the only person I ever trusted enough to give my whole heart to besides my children.
I won't survive it.
CHAPTER 2
Phoenix, Arizona
March 1997
The ache in my jaw doesn't dull even after I swallow what he gives me and lick my lips. A fake smile plasters itself on my face, my eyes shine, and I give him a little purr. His dick is tiny as fuck, but all the coke he did is making my job much harder than it has to be. If I didn't need this so much--if it wasn't for my boy--I wouldn't be here. My stomach rolls at the satisfied smile that rests on the strange man's lips, but I power through my disgust and move to crawl up his body. I'm stopped short of his mangled, dirty face by the sharp pain that radiates from my scalp. He threads his fingers through my hair, gripping it closer to my flesh, and gives a hard yank. My eyes narrow before I can stop them. I compliment the way he tastes to smooth things over, but it's too late. He's already seen the look, and he's not having it.
"You're supposed to be a compliant little whore, so act like it." A drop of saliva hits my cheek as he spits the words down at me. I don't flinch or look away. He wants me to back down, but I don't. I can't show any anger or fear. I've spent the last couple of months trying to be his club's perfect little whore so I could earn my ride to California. And it hasn't been easy. Of all the clubs I've hooked up with, his is probably the most depraved and disgusting I've stepped foot in. I need out, and not just for me. My boy is depending on me to get him a little slice of stable, so it doesn't matter how much I hate this man, I'm going to swallow every drop he gives me, and I'll do it with a fucking smile if it means I can get Ian a little bit better.
"You want that ride to California?"