Chapter One
Amy
I eyed the bottle of whiskey, feeling the nausea roll in my belly at the thought of having one sip. This date was never a good date for me, and normally I celebrated it by getting rip-roaring drunk.
But not this year.
With a sigh, I walked out of the kitchen and fell onto the couch in the living room, mindlessly scrolling through the channels on the TV with no interest in what was on. Normally, I would be with my friends, Roxanne and Sydney, at Roxanne’s hair salon, griping about men and enjoying some girl time. But today I wanted to be by myself.
Even after twenty years, the pain was still there.
Tears crowded my eyes, and I brushed them away. My mom, Heather Travis, had died in a car accident twenty years before when I was five. Even at that age, I could still remember the cops coming to our house and informing my dad of her death. My dad, Grant Travis, was not a favorite of the cops, being the leader of the Devil’s Horsemen motorcycle club, and usually when the cops came, they were taking him in on some bogus charge that never held water.
But that night, I watched from behind the stairs as my father allowed one of the cops to hug him as he wept. It had been no secret that my mom and dad had been a love match. Stories were told through the years of how Grant had stolen Heather away and won her over with his suave personality. If there was anything about my dad that I could say he didn’t have, it was the suave personality.
Growing up, I had more uncles than I’d care to mention. Being the daughter of the president of the Horsemen, I was to be protected at all costs, and before my mom died I was the darling of the club. I got whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and had all of them in the palm of my hand.
But after my mom died, things changed. My dad grew harder in his grief, and while on the outside he was hard-assed and unforgiving, there was many a night I would catch him crying in the bedroom, the one that had been their bedroom, and would curl up in his lap to try to offer him some solace. Little did I know then how much that had helped him.
So, there grew the bond between me and dad. I had learned everything about the club, from the finances to the punishments he doled out when needed. I learned how to shoot a gun, wield a knife, and test for real drugs versus the fake shit. I also learned to fight, which had come in handy more than once growing up.
And then, when I was twelve, dad decided to get married again. My half-sister Hayley was born before my next birthday. Tessa was a nice woman, one that knew what she was getting into, marrying a man like Grant Travis. She treated me like her own kid, maneuvering me through life as a teenager though I hadn’t made her life easy. And neither had Hayley. We were both products of our father and had his rebellious attitude to boot. In other words, I could be a bitch when I wanted to, and Tessa had taken it all in her stride.
But no matter what kind of woman Tessa was, it was clear to me that my dad never got over my mom’s death. Sure, he loved Tessa, respected her, but she could never replace Heather Travis, and I believe she knew that.
Every year, I sat here in this house, drinking my life away and wondering what it would have been like had she been alive. Would I be a different person? Would I be brash and unapologetic, a woman with only one plan and one plan only for the future?
Or would I have been someone completely different? Would she have softened the edges and kept me from becoming the person I am today? Who knows? I credited my father for making me into the person that could handle just about anything that came my way.
Well, almost anything.
The doorbell rang, and I got up, brushing my long hair off my face. There was only one person who would dare bother me on this day, knowing the significance that I kept from a lot of other people close to me. Opening the door, I gave my sister a tentative smile.
“Hey.”
Hayley walked in, a six-pack of beer in her hands.
“I brought back up.”
I shook my head as I shut the door behind her.
“I’m not drinking.”
She whirled around, her eyes narrowing.
“You’re not drinking? Are you serious? But you always get drunk on the anniversary.”
I fought the urge to blurt out the real reason I couldn’t drink.
“My stomach is rolling today. I-I haven’t been able to keep anything down.”
Hayley stared at me for a moment, before shrugging her slim shoulders and plopping down on the couch, taking the six pack with her.
“Whatever. More for me. God, these exams are a killer. Tell me again why I decided to torture myself like this?”
I joined her on the couch, curling my legs beneath me.
“Because, you are going to be the one sister in the family that has a college degree and make tons of money.”
She rolled her eyes as she popped the top on the beer.
“You’re trying to butter me up.”
I rolled my eyes then.
“Oh, whatever. You are going to be a fucking awesome nurse. Dad can put you on retainer to patch up the bullet holes.”
Hayley nearly spit out her beer, her peals of laughter making me smile.
Even though we were only half sisters, we had this bond between us that most full-blooded siblings did not have. The problem with that was that Hayley had started following in my footsteps, though her outbursts were ten times worse. While I just wanted to be the president of the Horsemen one day, Hayley had wanted to be memorable in more ways than one. She had started really acting out, making Tessa and my dad stress out over her antics. I had talked to her more than once about it, but it had always ended in a shouting match and one of us storming off.
The turning point was when Hayley had been kidnapped by our dad’s former right-hand man, Grayson Barnes. While he hadn’t touched her, the time she had spent in that building, alone, had affected Hayley greatly. My friend, Sydney, had rescued her just in the nick of time and from that moment on she had turned her life around.
Now she was enrolled in nursing classes at the local college, well on her way to becoming the nurse that I knew she secretly wished to be.
“Did you pass your exam?” I asked, picking at the pillow in my lap.
“Yeah,” she answered, relief on her face. “Who would have ever thought I would have such a hard time with medications? One more, and I am done for a month or two.”
“Good,” I smiled as she cracked open another beer.
Hayley looked over, eyeing me.
“Are you okay? I know I’ve been busy with school and all and haven’t been over here for you lately.”
I pursed my lips, knowing exactly what she was talking about. Two months ago, I, along with Sydney and Roxanne, had been kidnapped by the Teutonic Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was a neo-Nazi group who specialized in illegal weapon sales. Though we had only been in their hands for a very short period of time, the shootout that had occurred as we were being rescued still haunted me at night.
“Maybe we have met our quota for being kidnapped.”
“I hope so,” Hayley sighed, leaning back on the couch. “I really hope they all burn in hell.”
I couldn’t agree. There was one person that had been present during my kidnapping, one person who could make my blood boil and my stomach do funny flips whenever he was present.
***
Six Months Previously
I stepped into the bar, the smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke heavy in the air. Tonight, I had dressed to kill, wanting to find a quick hook-up that could kill this burn inside of me. Now that Hayley was back home safe, I wanted to spend some time away from the club to decompress.
Open mic night in the next town over was the perfect escape.
Straightening the sleeveless red mini I had on, I walked over to the bar confidently, glad to see there were no Horsemen present. I didn’t want to be reminded of who I was tonight. I wanted to drink my cares away and go home for sloppy sex with some hottie from the bar.
That was my plan.
The bartender slid a cocktail napkin in front of me, a grin on her face.
“What can I get you?”
“Beer,” I answered. “Whatever is on tap.”
She nodded, and I sat down on the stool, setting my purse on the scarred counter. It was open mic night, meaning I was going to enjoy some laughs and some horrible puns, not brave enough to get up there myself.
It would be enough to clear my head.
“Mind if I sit here?”
I turned to see a potential bed-hopper next to me, his grin causing my heart to flip over in my chest.
“Seat’s free.”
He slid in next to me as I accepted the beer from the bartender, taking a sip.
“What brings you here?”
I set it down on the napkin, turning to face him. God, his eyes were gorgeous.
“I would have to say the horrible jokes and the cold beer. You?”
He chuckled.
“Same. A good place to get away, isn’t it?” He then stretched out his hand. “I’m Eric.”
“Amy,” I answered, shaking his hand lightly.
The touch of his skin on mine made my knees weak, and I was surprised at the instant attraction. Never had a guy intrigued me so fast.
There was a weird look on his face as well, not letting go of my hand outright until the bartender interrupted us for his drink order. Surprisingly, he ordered a whiskey instead of a beer.
“So,” Eric started as I took another big sip of my beer. “Tell me something about yourself that no one else knows.”
I let out a bark of laughter.
“Are you serious?”
He nodded, his eyes warm.
“Come on. It’s supposed to be the best ice-breaker question, according to the internet.”
“You really searched it?” I asked, propping my arm up on the bar.
Eric flashed a grin, one that was even more impressive than the last.
“Of course, I did. I get tongue-tied around beautiful women, and I wanted something that would impress.”
His eyes slid over me, from the swirling tattoo on my shoulder to the circle of heather that graced my wrist.
“Did it work?”
I grinned.
“It worked.”
***
I slid out of the memory, wondering if there was ever a moment that night when I had thought about not pursuing Eric. He had been charming, funny, and when we had made plans to meet there later on in the week, I had felt like I was on cloud nine. It wasn’t until much later, after a delicious romp on our third date, that I had told him who I was, and he hadn’t treated me any differently.
Then the reality crashed through, and while we had attempted to hold onto the magic between us, the night of my kidnapping had shown me how very different we were. Though he had orchestrated our ultimate rescue, my entire world had shaken the moment I had seen him standing with the Brotherhood. The man who had teased me, made me laugh, and made me feel like I was someone else other than Amy Travis. Sure, the sex had been fabulous, but there had also been this connection between us, one that I hadn’t made up.
I got up from the couch as my sister reached for another beer.
“Change your mind?” she called out as I headed to the kitchen.
“No,” I answered with a grim smile. “I’m going for ice cream.”