Chapter 1
Blue Ridge, Georgia
Billie King tucked a strand of long dark hair behind her ear as she watched the setting sun beyond the horizon. It was hotter than hell out, she was sweating up a storm, and the hat she had on her head did little to quell the heat making her flushed.
“Damn southern heat,” She whispered to herself.
It was going to a be such a relief when she finally took her work gloves off and got to sit inside, where it was cool. She’d been cleaning since dawn, and her hands were torn to shreds. If she had someone around to help her, it would make the entire process that much easier…but she was alone.
She’d been alone for a long time, and she didn’t imagine that would change anytime soon. Now, she had to ready her house to put it on the market and hope that the profits she received were enough to help her start a new life. Maybe she’d move somewhere cold…
Billie’s phone rang in her pocket and she sighed before she lifted it to her ear.
“Hello?”
After a pause, Billie slowly took off her dirty gloves and threw them down onto the front porch where she proceeded to step over them. Her feet were muddy so she kicked off her boots as she listened to her voicemail.
She wasn’t receiving a phone call at all, but rather a reminder that she’d missed one…a very important one, apparently. Her whole body filled with dread as she heard the rough southern twang tinkle on the other end of the line. Billie would know that voice anywhere, and even after all these years, it still did things to her heart.
Billie hated the fact that her heart was pounding and her blood was roaring in her ears by the time she hung up the phone. She hated the fact that one man could still have such an effect on her, even after he’d up and left her high and dry almost six years prior.
No, she wouldn’t fall for his tactics this time. He was nothing more than a charming smile tucked into a smug little package. The man Billie knew and loved? He was gone, dead, buried somewhere out in the dirt back near the pond they’d used to play in. Whoever this was now, whatever version of the young man she’d adored years ago planned on stopping in for a visit?
Billie didn’t know him, and she didn’t want to. She’d rather keep his memory tucked safely away in her mind than pretend like she could stomach the sight of what he’d become over the years. A biker? An outlaw? She had no respect for that kind of lifestyle, and why would she? She’d grown up with the idea of respect driven into her head, and she just couldn’t imagine an outlaw being very respectful.
Let alone one who’d up and left his family the second he got the chance, leaving behind his entire life, that included Billie. How was she supposed to feel about him coming home? Happy? Excited? No way, Jose. She didn’t feel a lick of excitement at the thought of sharing any more time with him, not after how he’d hurt her.
Noah. Well, he went by Slayer now, some stupid ass name given to him by the men he rode his bikes with. She bet he earned it the hard way too, fucking anyone and anything that moved so long as it would let him. Billie didn’t exactly think very highly of the blonde egomaniac, not after the way he’d torn her adolescent heart to pieces and left it to dry in the damp Georgia heat.
She couldn’t really blame him for wanting out the small town life, but she could blame him for the way that he did it. When he left her and his mama, it nearly tore the two apart. His mother, Laura, had always given him the benefit of the doubt. Even after he’d gone months without reaching out to her, or Billie, because he was too busy riding that two-wheeled machine of his.
It’d been too long since she’d seen Noah’s face, and she couldn’t exactly convince herself that it wouldn’t have any effect on her to see it one more time. Before she slammed the door in his face and told him to get gone, because that’s all he’d ever been good at. Slayer wasn’t a stayer, he was runner, and if anyone knew that better than most, it was little Billie King.
They’d met under strange circumstances when she was six. He was eight and obnoxious as hell, and he hadn’t been very excited to share his space with a little girl. But, his mama and Billie’s mother were best friends, and when Billie’s mom got sick, Laura stepped up to the plate and took care of both of them. Back then, Noah’s daddy was still alive and kickin’, and he loved Billie like his own. Noah’s parents took care of Mary King until she finally died ten months after moving in.
It was one of the worst memories Billie barely revisited. She didn’t want to think of her mama like that, all frail and sick and dyin’ in the soft rays of the Georgia sun. But, Noah? Well, back then, he’d been the closest one to her. The first couple of months were rough on both of them, both being only children. It took a minute for them to get used to sharing the spotlight, but once it became obvious just how sick Mary was, Noah stepped right up to the plate.
It’d changed everything for the two of them. Instead of fighting against each other, they fought for each other, and that didn’t stop until he chose the open road over…well, her. They were inseparable up until their early adult years, when he was twenty-two and she was barely twenty. Things between them were always white hot, intense, an adventure. Billie King craved adventure back then, yearned for it, and Noah, when they were gone.
Now? Now she spent her days cleaning up the house she grew up in so she could make it her own. She took care of Laura up until she’d died at a ripe old age two weeks prior, and even though losing her had left Billie lonely as hell, she was happy the woman could finally reunite with her husband up in the skies.
Billie now officially had no one, and then all of a sudden that ass hat from her past wants to ride his way back home and act like nothing had ever happened. She didn’t even know how he could have gotten her phone number, but she supposed with his lifestyle there was very little he couldn’t or wouldn’t do.
A solid wave of disappointment washed over her as she sat down on the front steps and kicked her legs out. This wasn’t how she was supposed to be living her life. She was supposed to be married with kids, or at least in a steady relationship with someone. But, she hadn’t been able to remain committed to anyone since Noah left. Slayer.
She nearly hated the name as much as she hated the man. Let him come to town to settle Laura’s affairs. Let him come rolling back through like the drifter he was, because at the end of the day, Billie knew her life wouldn’t change that much in the long run.
He wouldn’t stay.
He never stayed.