Starting Over (18 page)

scared.”

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Starting Over by Ryder Dane

As they parked in the small lot of the mini mall, Race held his hand out to shake

War’s hand to seal the pact. “She’s ours for the long haul.”

War repeated his words with a grin. “For the long haul.”

JK Publishing, Inc.

Starting Over by Ryder Dane

River made it to western Kentucky by midnight. It was much warmer and no ice or

snow decorated the greenery on either side of the road while she traveled along with

the windows down and the radio cranked up. She followed a weathered sign that led to

a small hotel off the highway to sleep for the night. She was tired, and she was

depressed, but she was proud of herself for taking her destiny into her own hands. As

much as she wanted to be loved and love in return, she wasn’t about to become just

another slut in a long line of sluts for any man, or in this case men.

She turned her phone on just for a few minutes to see if they noticed that she was

missing, or if they’d forgotten her already. Although she didn’t recall ever tel ing them

her cell number, they could have gotten it from Darnell and Dena, or even Maisey.

There were twelve messages, and only two of them weren’t from the same number.

The first was a message from the people purchasing the bar in Kansas. They were

ready to finalize the sale of the bar, and wanted to purchase the garage behind the

place that she had the bikes and truck stored inside of. Her personal things were in

plastic bins sitting in the back of the truck and the cab.

The second call was from her lawyer telling her the same thing that the purchasers

had already said. The third call was from Dena, and she left a long winded thank you

and wishing her luck in her travels.

The next nine calls started out with Maisey telling her about Mambo and the plans

they were making to buy the bar. From that point on, Race and War demanded that she

return, then they requested that she return. Threats of busting her ass, to tying her to

their bed fol owed the demands. The last cal was War’s sexy voice asking her to cal to

let them know she got where she was going and to let them know that she was all right.

“I don’t know what made you leave, we had to talk to the heat about the accident.

When we got back, you were gone. Come on, Shorty, you have more guts than this. A

woman who came to town and almost single-handedly gets her revenge on a bunch of

bad asses isn’t a gutless little girl who runs scared. Call one of us and let us know you

are okay.”

She made sure that she turned the phone off. She knew they would be able to

trace the phone by reporting it lost or stolen. As much as she hated to get rid of the

expensive cell, she needed to buy a new one. After a few weeks, she might be able to

use the phone again. War and Race would forget about her fairly quickly as long as she

stayed under the radar. She decided to stop at Wally World the next time she found

one, and buy a cheap ‘pay as you go’ phone.

She woke the owners of the hotel and apologized, but they seemed to take it in

stride, as if being awakened at midnight by travelers on the dark country road was

routine for them. The man was named Walter and his wife was Jupiter. The names

certainly fit the two people who appeared to be hold out hippies from the nineteen

sixties, and she thanked them for interrupting their night to assist her. She breathed

deeply as she stepped back into the night air. The smell of burning pot was giving her a

bit of a contact buzz in the short time she’d been talking to the couple, and she was glad

to get out of the room.

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Starting Over by Ryder Dane

Her room was spotlessly clean, and the linens on the bed smelled as if they had just

been changed. The smal bathroom didn’t have a tub, but the hot water was in plentiful

supply, and she took her time allowing the steam to relax her tension of the day away.

For the first time in weeks, she touched herself imagining War and Race were the ones

doing the touching. Now that she knew how it felt to have a man’s cock deep inside of

her body, she wanted to imagine that War’s thick cock was hers for the taking, but the

lack of his big body made her fantasy empty. Even remembering Race and his

demands for her to take his cock into her mouth was hard to do, but she could imagine

their touch. As she manipulated her clit and nipples into an orgasm, she cried out their

names and was immediately brought back to the fact she was alone, and would be for

the foreseeable future.

Her pussy still pulsed and begged to be filled when she lay in the comfortable bed,

so she pushed her fingers as deep as she could, and rubbed her clit with her thumb to

finally achieve a full orgasm. It left her panting, but at least she would be able to sleep.

She needed to get some rest, because tomorrow she would have to travel the highway

to get to Kansas by Friday to finalize paperwork for the sale. She needed to find a spot

to park the bikes and the Studebaker. Thinking about the bikes, she wondered what

had happened to Tuck’s bike. After al , technical y it was now her bike. Not that she

would recognize his scoot if she saw it. He’d never come back home once he’d left. All

she remembered was the bike was chopped and it was black.

Sleep clouded her mind and she snuggled into the warm coverlet.

Ever since they’d returned from town, armed with two white gold wedding bands

and a bouquet of flowers, and found that their Shorty had left the premises, hell raged

through the winery.

The men were renovating the building that they’d discussed as being an ideal

solution for the situation with River. Whether or not they got her back, the place still

needed attention and it helped to take their minds off the woman who should be with

them right now.

Race had been so mad that he put a reward out for the brother who found her. “I

want to know where she went, and the man that brings me the information will get his

pick of bikes in the warehouse.” Three hopefuls had thought they spotted her in

Indiana, but checking into the information and finding that the woman in question was

nothing like River earned the brother reporting a beat down by Race or War.

She’d been gone for three weeks when they decided to work on the building, and

pounding nails helped work the rage from their systems, but people still walked softly

when the two big men were close.

War had begun tightening up security and threatened to rip the patch from a

brother’s cut if he was caught compromising the security of the place. A second offense

would result in expulsion from the Breed for his lifetime, if he was lucky.

“Since no one admits to being assigned to the gate the day Shorty left, from now on,

you stay until your replacement shows up. If you have a problem, you dumbfucks know

how to use the cell phones on your hips, call the bar. The first man to challenge me will

learn the hard way not to fuckin’ compromise the security of the club a second time.”

When the cops finally released the bodies of the six bikers, arrangements were

made to cremate what little remained of them, including Glimmer’s corpse. War made

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Starting Over by Ryder Dane

plans to escort the remains and personal affects back to the two clubs. Race decided at

the last minute that he should go with them. Bam was left in charge even though he

wasn’t thrilled about the prospect.

Race had a talk with him. “Look, if you can’t see your way clear to deal with the

club at half capacity, then maybe you want to step down and we’ll find someone else for

the position. I’m not a fuckin’ nursemaid, nut up or step aside. You know how important

this ride is. We show that we respect the chapters, they show us what they’re made of.

War’s going because he has family in Juanita. I can’t leave the place without leadership

so you are or you’re not. Make up your mind here and fuckin’ now.”

Bam tightened his lips and nodded in agreement. Race was surprised when the

man clasped his shoulder and told him, “Be safe and watch your back, the club needs

someone like you.”

He nodded his head and went to pack his saddlebags.

JK Publishing, Inc.

Starting Over by Ryder Dane

The sale went smoothly and River felt the tears falling as she picked up the last two

boxes of her things the new owners had collected from the bar and the apartment in the

back of the building where she had lived in for the majority of her lifetime.

She rented a large storage unit to secure the truck and bikes, but she wouldn’t be

able to keep them in storage indefinitely. At least that was the case with the bikes.

Hers would be kept, along with the Studebaker truck, but the antique bikes, well there

was no way for her to ride them even if she had them customized. The ’46 Indian and

the elderly chopper were impossible for her to kick over the motors. The insurance

agent had offered her a lowbal price for both bikes. She wasn’t stupid, even if he

thought she was. The bikes were worth a small fortune if she wanted to put them on the

market. Something made her think of Race and War whenever she looked at them.

She had been gone for three months and wondered if they ever thought of her.

Every night and hundreds of times during the day, she carried their pictures in her mind.

It was ridiculous and she needed to move on. This love stuff was for the birds. She

finally made her decision about the bikes. Now she needed to find a direction for her

life.

Friday morning she watched as the transport people loaded the two scoots into the

trailer and secured them from falling with padded rails and nylon straps. It seemed right

when she made her decision to send the bikes back to Ohio, but seeing them closed up

in the back of that trailer saddened her.
At least you won’t have them haunt you
every

time you see them
, and the bright red bows attached to the handlebars with a long zip

strip were her way of saying goodbye to the memories of the two handsome bikers.

She was headed to Colorado. Instead of racking her brains to figure out what she

wanted to do, she decided to travel around for a while and learn some of the things that

she’d never done before. It was three days after the New Year’s holiday, and she’d

gotten reservations at one of the ski lodges because she figured she should at least be

able to say she tried skiing. The rental unit for her possessions was moved to St. Louis,

Missouri since the place was centrally located and she could access the unit at anytime

if she decided to settle in one place.

She checked her old cell phone, and teared up when she saw that they hadn’t

forgotten her existence. Each week she tortured herself by listening to their voices

demanding that she return, and now, they just asked her to call and let someone know

that she was all right.

Was she wrong? Would they have had everything they wanted from her and

passed her down the pecking order of Breed brothers? She’d asked herself the same

questions over and over and always came to the conclusion that if they’d wanted a

serious relationship they would have told her. If not told her, they could have woken her

and told her they’d be back, but they hadn’t and they left the door unlocked too. It was

better this way, her heart would heal—she hoped.

She took a taxi to the airport, as the brochure said,
it was time to have an

adventure
.

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