Chapter One
Summer 1998
Not many things scared Roni Walker. In fact, the list of things that would was very short. Five, tops. Number one? Falling in love. Number two? Falling in love with Rooster Hancock.
Damned if she hadn’t just broken both rules one and two. An instance of drunken debauchery with her little brother’s best friend and she was done for. It’d been stupid and the worst mistake of her life up to this point.
“Roni, I’m sorry,” she heard him yelling as he beat on the door.
He was sorry? Sorry he’d made her look like such a dumbass? Or sorry he’d lied to her in the first place? She’d show him. She’d go to this party, find the first guy who paid her any attention, and let him have a piece.
“Fuck off, Rooster!” she screamed through the wood that bent with every beat of his fist.
“Fine,” she heard the anger in his voice. “You get whatever you fuckin’ deserve.”
Roni shook her head, coming out of the flashback. That night had changed their lives drastically. By the end of the summer Rooster was at a camp for wayward teens, Liam locked up in juvie, and she was left pregnant with a baby she would never give birth to. It was her biggest secret, her greatest shame, and the one thing in the world she wished she could take back.
“How’s it going in here today?”
Her head snapped up at the sound of her brother’s voice. In here indicated the office of the family-run repair shop that provided legitimate income for the Heaven Hill MC. Their normal bookkeeper was out on FMLA as her husband fought cancer. When Liam had called her, Roni did what she had always done—picked up the slack where needed. It had meant quitting her job at a retail store and plopping her ass in this seat for sometimes ten hours a day until everything that needed to be done was done.
“Busy.” She blew out a deep breath. “I got payroll caught up and will be cuttin’ checks tomorrow. The invoices are paid, so nobody will be breathin’ down your neck anymore, and I’ve got the new parts ordered. Tomorrow I’m gonna work on getting everything filed and workin’ out a schedule for Cash so he’s not overlapping and working on anything else that you guys can do. Since he’s workin’ off parts and labor for his car, we need to maximize his efficiency so that he’s really helping and learning, not standing around shootin’ the shit with Travis.” She threw a grin at her brother.
He ran a hand through his long, dark hair; the platinum band of a wedding ring caught the light and her stomach tightened. He’d finally married the woman who’d stolen his heart and legally become the head of a family of five. “Thanks, Roni.” He leaned over, giving her a hug around the neck. “I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am you came to help us out. I spent almost twenty hours a day in here tryin’ to get this shit caught up and you’ve done it in a week.”
“I’m used to it and I got the time. You’ve got a family to take care of,” she brushed his praise off. She would have had a family to take care of if her dad hadn’t found out about the baby. Just one of the many things she’d never forgive the man for.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his blue eyes sizing her up. “You’ve seemed down since your birthday a few months ago.”
How did she explain this to him? How did she tell him that she wasn’t okay, that her feelings had her damn near on the edge of a nervous breakdown because she was panicked about life? When would she start to live it? “I’m fine,” she smiled. “A little tired. This work drains my brain whereas my other work physically taxed me. I’ll be used to it in a few days.”
The look on his face told her that he didn’t believe her, but he let it slide. “Want to come to dinner tonight? Group dinner at the clubhouse.”
The invitation wasn’t entirely unexpected, and she wasn’t sure she really wanted to go. “Is Denise makin’ homemade mac and cheese?”
“Fuck yeah. It’s dinner, ain’t it?”
“Then I’ll be there with bells on,” she told him as she turned back to the computer screen.
“It’s four.” He looked at his watch. “Why don’t you go ahead and cut out. You were here before me today.”
“I have a few more things I’d like to get done,” she protested.
“Sharon.” His tone told her he was serious, as did the fact he called her by her given name. “Your ass better be billing me your overtime too.”
“I’m on salary,” she argued, not wanting to cost the family anything else.
“Then we will discuss how much that salary is once you show me your timecard for the week.”
It was pointless to argue with him once he got an idea in his head, and it wasn’t her place, either. Her place would always be to smile, nod, and not let out any of the thoughts that swam around in her head. “Okay.” She nodded, smiling, as she knew he expected her to. “What time should I be there for dinner?”
“Six or seven.” He shrugged. “You know the kids would love to see you, so the earlier the better. I think Mandy’s requesting some Roni time…she’s sick of being around boys and toddlers.”
“Totally know the feeling.” She laughed loudly. She could always count on her niece to make her laugh. “I’ll be there around six.” She grabbed her purse out of the drawer that she stashed it in and got up. “See you there.”
Before she made her way out of the door, Liam stopped her. “Hey, Roni.”
“Yeah.” She turned back around, her eyebrow raised.
“Don’t think I don’t appreciate the sacrifices you make for this family and this club. You’ll always be one of my top priorities. I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for you.” He hugged her tightly.
She did her best to hold back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. He was right; he wouldn’t have the life he now led had it not been for her. He would be in a place that was so much better, only he didn’t realize it.
Two hours later, she pulled into the gravel drive that led to Heaven Hill’s clubhouse. This was a drive she’d driven down a million times before in her life, at one time she’d even lived in a house on the property. That changed when she hadn’t been able to stomach living here anymore—when she’d found out her dad had not only ruined her life but that of her brother. The secrets and lies were too much for her, she could no longer take living them and she had to get out. At that time she’d gotten her own apartment, paid for out of her own money. She’d exerted a little bit of independence and gotten out from under her father’s thumb.
“Fuck,” she breathed as she spotted the motorcycle Rooster had taken to riding almost exclusively in the last couple of months. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see him; she’d been successfully avoiding him since her birthday. That visit had pulled too many emotions to the surface, and if hadn’t been for the fact that she’d already told Liam she would be here, she’d turn her car right around and head the hell back home.
“Aunt Roni,” she heard as she parked and opened her door. Mandy ran towards her, a huge smile on her face.
“Hey, girlie, how’s it goin’?” she asked as she scooped her up in a big hug.
“Tatum’s still cryin’ all the time, and Drew’s bein’ an ass. What else is new?”
Roni knew she should correct the soon-to-be sixteen year old’s language, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. “Tatum will be out of that stage soon. Drew I’m not so sure about,” she laughed.
“Mom keeps saying that about Tatum, but she’s a year old, shouldn’t she stop with the crying already?”
She’d watched Tatum and knew that she did other things besides cry, but sometimes it was too much for the two teenagers to deal with. She’d definitely gotten much better since they’d discovered she was lactose intolerant, but for both Mandy and Drew the first few months of having a baby sister had been hellish. “She will, I promise. I bet she doesn’t even cry nearly as much as she used to.”
“She doesn’t.” Mandy shrugged. “But it’s still so annoying. At least she’s kind of walking now.”
“What’s going on with your brother?” Roni leaned against the car, reluctant to go inside, because once they did, she knew Mandy would stop talking and she would have to face Rooster. Mandy didn’t like to complain so that other people could hear her. She’d learned that from both her mom and dad. She kept most of her complaining and needing to talk about things relegated to Roni.
“He’s hanging around all these football players.”
“He’s been doing that for over a year. What’s got you so worried about it now?” Roni asked. There was obviously something Mandy kept from her and she didn’t like that one bit.
“Since he started the two-a-days, he’s been different. Not as nice.”
“It’s summer vacation. Maybe he misses his friends, and two practices a day are a lot for someone to do in the heat,” Roni tried. It wouldn’t be unusual for him to miss them and be tired. He was a teenage boy.
“No.” Mandy shook her head. “He sees them all the time at the practices.”
She didn’t know what to tell the younger girl. “Maybe you’re takin’ it hard that he’s not always with you anymore. The two of you are growing up, things are going to change. They did with me and your dad.”
“You’ll see.” Mandy shook her head again. “Probably not tonight, but you’ll see.”
As she ran away, Roni was sorry that she’d dismissed Mandy’s feelings, but she’d never known Drew to be anything but a normal teenage boy. There was absolutely no reason for any of them to think any differently.