Jace didn’t know how to feel as he drove his motorcycle past the outer limits of Tucson, Arizona. It had been such a long time since he had been there it just felt like entering another town. Somewhere different but always the same.
It wasn’t anything different. He wasn’t going to get attached to the place again. That had happened a long time ago and Jace didn’t see him getting attached now.
The place held a lot of memories but not memories Jace wanted to have.
He was beginning to wonder why he had come back as he drove through the street, marveling at how barely anything had changed. It was all the same as it had been when he left. He had an eerie feeling in his chest that time had stopped in Tucson when he left.
Jace told himself this wouldn’t be long. Just a week or two, see the old stomping ground and catch up with some old friends. Then he would move on. Go further south. Head into California or New Mexico. Jace hadn’t decided yet. Or maybe he would take a chance and go to Mexico, Costa Rica or Cuba. He hadn’t been to Cuba or the Caribbean Islands yet; it was a little too hot. But there was always something else to explore.
As long as he didn’t stay still for too long, Jace didn’t really care where he went. He didn’t want anything to tie him down. Keeping himself moving stopped anything from dragging him back. Relationships, family, a job. Jace had none of those and he preferred it that way.
The sky was the limit for him.
Then he saw a very familiar sight up ahead. The Broken Hounds MC clubhouse. It was just off the main road but still in a prominent place. You couldn’t really miss the line of bikes that were almost crowding the dead-end road. Ever popular, even after all these years. The refuge for those who needed a place to crash and a safe haven if they were in danger. Broken Hounds looked out for their own. They had looked out for Jace.
Back then, Jace had resented it. Now he was hoping it would work in his favor. At least he might be able to get some place to crash for a while. Providing he didn’t beg for it. Jace never begged.
He was pulling up into an empty spot at the end of the bike line when he felt his cell phone buzzing. Fishing it out of his jacket, Jace had to take off his sunglasses in the shaded alley to see the number. He didn’t recognize it, but that could mean anything. He answered it anyway.
“Howard.”
“Where the fuck are you?”
The screech made Jace’s eardrum vibrate and he had to jerk the phone away from his ear. There was no need to guess who was at the end of that shriek. He sighed and brought his phone back to his ear, turning off his bike and sitting back in his seat.
“And good evening to you, too, Kelsey. I take it you’re in fine spirits.”
“Don’t fucking play with me, Jace!” Kelsey snapped. “You said you were going to be in all day. I’m standing in your apartment right now and you’re not here! You never said you were leaving!”
Jace sighed. Kelsey was a girl he had hooked up in Phoenix who had been up for anything. She had been incredible in bed and, because of that, Jace used her for an occasional hook-up. If he got a really good time in sex from a girl, he went back for another round on another day – that was his rule. Now he was regretting it with Kelsey. The girl had started showing herself as a little unhinged and become clingy, believing they were in a relationship. Jace had never taken her out on a date; he simply went to her apartment and banged her in every room before he left. She had known from the start he wasn’t looking for anything other than a good time.
It was the reason he had left Phoenix when he had done. Having a crazy girl obsessed with him, stalking him and chewing him out for talking with other potential hook-ups didn’t do Jace any good. He didn’t need the drama.
“I never said I was going to be there at all. And what the hell are you doing in my apartment?”
“I…” He could hear Kelsey pouting. “I came by to surprise you. I brought those ribs you love.”
Jace had never eaten ribs with Kelsey. She had to have been stalking him longer than he realized for him to know that. He growled.
“Well, if I had been there, you would’ve been booted out because I don’t do surprises. And how did you get in? I never gave you a key.”
“I swiped yours and made a copy.”
Kelsey sounded very smug with that. Jace gritted his teeth. He had made the mistake of letting Kelsey come around a couple of times to his. That he had never done with anyone else. And this was the reason why.
Kelsey had taken it upon herself to break into his apartment.
“I told you when we started hooking up that it was just that – a hook-up. I wasn’t looking for anything serious and nobody was going to change my mind.”
“Well, that’s not what came across to me,” Kelsey sighed. “You were very loving in bed.”
Jace barked out a laugh. That was not how anyone would have described his ability in bed. Fucked their brains out, fucking sated, yes, but not loving.
“I have never loved anyone in bed, Kelsey. When I’m in bed with a woman, I fuck them. There’s a difference between the two.”
“There was certainly a difference to me.”
Jace rubbed at his eyes. He was starting to get a headache. This was why he had told Kelsey they weren’t going to be doing the bed tango anymore – she was clingy and had started saying she loved him. Those three words freaked Jace out whenever he heard them. That was why he had left.
Kelsey was becoming one of his biggest regrets.
“I told you I didn’t want to see you anymore, Kelsey, because you were getting possessive. I never made a commitment to you and I never said there wouldn’t be anyone else.”
“But you promised me there would only be me.” Kelsey whined.
“I never said anything of the kind. I avoided the question which, if you recall, you asked mid-fuck. I wasn’t interested in answering something like that in the middle of fucking your sweet pussy dry.”
It was harsh but Jace didn’t feel guilty about it. If someone didn’t understand him clearly, he was more than happy to clear it up for them. And Kelsey was clearly not understanding what they had had between them – bed partners for a temporary length of time, nothing more. Jace wasn’t about to change himself because one girl thought she could change him.
If Kelsey had been level-headed, she would have seen it for what it was and shrugged as she walked away. She knew the score. If she didn’t understand it, she shouldn’t have agreed to a hook-up.
“So…” Kelsey whimpered, her voice shaking. “There was never an ‘us?’”
“No, there wasn’t. I was looking for someone willing to have some fun and you were there, practically begging for my cock. You knew that, so don’t try and twist it around now.”
There was another reason why he didn’t want to be around Kelsey: her switching personality. She could be timid and about to cry one minute and raging in anger the next. Jace didn’t like people like that.
Kelsey had now switched to angry and was snarling at him down the phone.
“You are such a bastard. You told me you would love me to the moon and back.”
“I have never said that to anyone.” Jace was getting fed up with this. “Look, Kelsey, leave me alone. I’m not in Phoenix anymore and I’m not coming back. Don’t ever call me again.”
He hung up in the middle of Kelsey’s screaming. He slid his phone back into his jacket as it started ringing again. She would get bored eventually. Jace wasn’t interested in discussing anything with her. If she got her level-headed, decent side back, she would realize it was pointless and give it up.
And lots of pigs were flying across the sky right at that moment.
His pocket was still buzzing as Jace put away his sunglasses and climbed off his bike. Looking at this clubhouse now he felt a stab of nostalgia. There were very few remnants of his memory that Jace actually remembered fondly, and the clubhouse was one of them. It had been a safe haven, especially when he’d gotten into trouble with the cops and needed to hide. None of the cops messed with Broken Hounds. Especially not when the kid they wanted was the son of a prominent member.
Prominent in everyone else’s mind, but not Jace’s.
A huge man with his blond hair shaved down to the scalp, a moustache and goatee and muscles the size of tires stood outside the clubhouse. He wore a black t-shirt, black leather trousers and a red bandanna around his neck. Black leather boots finished off the ensemble. Tattoos covered his arms, all intricate designs that Jace found himself staring at.
If he hadn’t been allergic to the ink tattoo artists used, he would have himself looking like that.
The man was an enforcer. Jace recognized the demeanor. The enforcer was a bodyguard, bouncer and security rolled into one. Nobody messed with the enforcer. At six-five, he towered over Jace’s five-eight and could probably put Jace in hospital without breaking a sweat.
His blue eyes landed on Jace as he approached. His eyes widened before a broad grin spread across his face.
“Jace Howard. Fancy seeing you back here.”
Jace blinked. That voice he knew. He couldn’t believe it was coming from that man.
“Dave Schuman?”
The last time he had seen Dave, he was twenty-three, tall and slim with solid muscle. He had either bulked up in the gym or had been injecting steroids because he had certainly filled out since they had last set eyes on each other.
Schuman grinned and stuck a hand out, which Jace shook firmly.
“I never thought I’d see you here again.” Schuman raised his eyebrows. “How long has it been since you were last here?”
“Seven years.” Jace didn’t want to think about the time. “How are you, Dave?”
“Muddling through.” Schuman nodded inside. “Drink?”
“Please.”
After having Kelsey shrieking into his ear, Jace was looking forward to having something to wet his throat. He would prefer a woman, but a drink would be a close second.
Schuman led him inside and Jace found himself staring at the décor in surprise. Very little had changed. Even the old pool table, which had been there since before Jace was born, was still in the corner, popular as always with the number of people hanging around it. The only difference Jace could see were a few extra pictures of more recent events up on the wall. It looked like everyone had just carried on as normal without him.
Jace wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
Schuman signaled the girl behind the bar and she filled up two pints. Jace eyed her with interest. Petite, white-blonde hair piled on her head, with big breasts and a tiny waist. She had a heart tattoo on her collar-bone and a date across the back of her left wrist. Dressed in a denim dress that went to her knees, no sleeves and showing enough cleavage, she was delectable. She gave Jace a sweet smile as she set his beer in front of him and Jace blew her a kiss, feeling his cock stirring behind the bar. Still smiling at her, the girl flashed him the finger before walking away.
Schuman laughed.
“Don’t try anything with her. Her husband is Broken Hounds and he’s protective of her.”
“What?” Jace stared at his friend. “But she doesn’t look any older than eighteen.”
“She’s twenty-five and a feisty mom-of-three.” Schuman’s eyes were twinkling as he sipped his beer. “Everyone knows that she’s out of bounds because, if her husband didn’t castrate them, she certainly would.”
Maybe she was not the best person to entice to his room for a fuck. Jace preferred his cock and balls to be firmly attached to him. Picking up his glass, he took a huge gulp. It was a refreshing taste after a long ride through the desert. And the clubhouse still had the best beer he had ever tasted.
That was another thing he had missed.
“So, what are you doing nowadays, then?” he asked as he turned to his old friend.
“I’m an enforcer for the MC.” Schuman grinned. “Pretty neat, huh?”
“I guess.” Jace eyed his body. “You look like you’ve bulked yourself up pretty well. You weren’t this buff seven years ago.”
“Protein powder and several hours a day in the gym does wonders for you?” Schuman flexed his biceps, which received a few giggles from two girls barely into their twenties sitting nearby. Schuman winked at them and turned back to Jace. “You didn’t get into another MC, did you?”
“Didn’t have the time.” Jace focused on his beer. “I was busy with…other things.”
The real answer was he didn’t want to be involved in the MC again. The family bond hadn’t grounded him. All Jace had wanted to do was rebel. He had never figured out why, but the thought of family broke him out in a cold sweat.
It could have been something to do with having no mother around and a father who was cold towards him, never showing him any fatherly affection, but Jace had a feeling it was more than that.
Schuman was looking at him strangely.
“What?”
“Is that going to be your answer to where you’ve been all these years? ‘Doing other things?’”
Jace shrugged.
“I’ve been around doing stuff. Just wandering, really. Nothing too exciting.”
And it wasn’t to anyone else. Jace chose to have a boring, unstable life. It made him keep a sense of himself without giving up everything. He liked being a nomad, moving from town to city and living from paycheck to paycheck. He didn’t have to explain himself to anyone.
Schuman looked like he was going to push it but decided against it. He slurped at his beer.
“Have you got any place to stay?”
“Not yet. I was just having a look at the usual stomping ground before I searched for somewhere.”
Jace was fishing and Schuman took the bait.
“Well, there are plenty of rooms available upstairs. A few of the gang have moved into homes with their partners to have families. We have about half the usual amount of people living here.”
“I couldn’t do that.” Inwardly Jace was smiling. “I’m not Broken Hounds.”
“But your father was. We look after our own.”
Jace didn’t want to be reminded of his father. That always left a nasty taste in his mouth. He glanced towards a door that he knew led to the offices that belonged to the president of Broken Hounds.
“You think the president will mind?”
Schuman grinned.
“Jeremy’s strict on the rules but he’s not going to turn away a former member.”
“Jeremy?”
“Jeremy Lyman. He’s in charge now.”
Jace was surprised. He knew Jeremy Lyman from their youth and Jeremy had shown he had lots of brawn but not a lot of brain. How had he managed to become the president of Broken Hounds? Jace didn’t think he had the ability to be a leader.
“Since when?”
“The last three years. And he’s a fucking good president as well.” Schuman’s voice held some sort of admiration. “To say I was surprised when he applied for the presidency is an understatement. But he’s proved he’s more than capable. He and Maddie have kept things in line, with Jeremy running the show and Maddie keeping the books. We’re actually profiting for the first time in a decade now.”
“Maddie?” Jace sat up. “You mean little Maddie, the little ginger girl the grade below us?”
Schuman snorted.
“She’s hardly little now. She’s a fiery redhead and all grown up.”
Jace remembered Maddie Lyman. She had been a tiny thing who wouldn’t say boo to a goose. And he hadn’t been very nice to her at all while they were at school.
That was an understatement. He had been vile to her. But Maddie had never said a thing. Jace had half-expected Jeremy, or even their father, to come after him for hurting Maddie, but it never happened. Jace had never figured that out.
“I bet she’s fiery all over,” he muttered, his mind inadvertently thinking about what Maddie looked like now. Was she still a tiny ginger girl with freckles and glasses? Or was she an Amazonian woman with fiery red hair and sultry green eyes?
Jace growled and Schuman gave him a warning look.
“Don’t even try it, Jace. Maddie’s not going to be interested.”
“How do you know?”
“She hates you, remember? You can’t turn that around because you’ve been gone for years. She’s just got out of a relationship and she’s not looking for anyone else.” Schuman shook his head. “And I think Jeremy will have something to say about you fucking Maddie. He didn’t like you, either, if you recall.”
“I hadn’t forgotten.”
Maybe Maddie would be off-limits. Sleeping with the president’s sister would get him in all sorts of trouble that Jace didn’t want. Which was a shame, since Maddie had the things Jace would look for in a bed partner – she sounded uninterested in being a part of a relationship and would happily have a few hours of fun.
Jace decided to leave it for now. He would decide later whether to put Maddie Lyman on his list to conquer. Hopefully she still wore her glasses and her braces and was still unattractive. That would make his mind up.
Jace had no interest in fucking an ugly duckling.