Hell Froze Over (2 page)

Her name was Betty, which was bad enough, but her last name was Bromp, yes, she had heard every joke about her name when she was young. This was why now when people asked her name, she shrugged and told them to call her Boo. Even though she wasn’t a true Lady Rider, she accepted the name they’d given her.

The bullying she endured sucked, and even though her parents had been supportive and contacted the school on numerous occasions, it hadn’t helped. When her parents were killed in a car accident she had been devastated, and did they stop? No, she was bullied even more, to the point at one time she had contemplated suicide, that was when stuff changed. The night her foster mother found her in the bathroom sobbing uncontrollably with a bottle of pills in her hand. She had planned on taking them, but in the end, something had stopped her. She was grateful for that too.

No one knew how bad it had gotten, she hadn’t told anyone, but her foster mother had finally figured it out. She attempted to go to the school, but they said the same old thing—‘kids will be kids’—of course this was way before the media actually paid attention to stuff like this. Then Ms. Flora had taken matters into her own hands and enrolled Boo in a self-defense course, and therapy. She had saved her life, and she would always be grateful. She would never be someone’s doormat ever again. Well, at least that was the case after she finished high school, before that, Boo didn’t think about.

Boo used the money her parents left her to enroll in school and pay for the first year, the second she had a job that helped but this year, she was struggling. She had moved into a smaller apartment and even the money the Warriors gave her was minimal, but she still had to borrow money. This break was probably needed but not wanted. It was frustrating. Since she had the time to think and plan, she discovered that although she loved them, Boo was spending too much time with the Lady Riders and the club. They did give her money, but it wasn’t nearly enough compared to what she would make if she worked for a clinic or a hospital. She couldn’t blame them, but looking at her finances, she knew the time had come to make a break from them. She wasn’t part of the club, and no one had ever actually asked her about being a Lady Rider. She thought they all just assumed, but since they hadn’t asked, Boo hadn’t said anything.

She knew it was probably because of all the stuff they had going on. She had met Bic at a free clinic she had been working at and where Bic had been volunteering. The woman was a force to be reckoned with and latched onto Boo for some reason. After that, Boo had begun to hang around with the women, and slowly she had become part of them, or so she thought. Bic had never formally asked her to become part of the club, and because of that, Boo just did her thing and went home every night. It was okay, she was used to not actually belonging anywhere.

She was petite, blond, and some say pretty, she said average looking. But truthfully, she was nothing special, and why anyone would pick on her still was a mystery. She hadn’t stuck out in grade school, just being a quiet little girl who buried her head into books and old movies. How that was threatening she didn’t know, but damn it, for some reason it had.

Boo grimaced when she thought of the girls who had tormented her through middle school and high school. They had been relentless, calling her names, pushing her down, even taking her clothes when she was in gym class and throwing them away. It had been the day after her parents’ funeral and she had been wrecked, so much so, she had just left school that day.

Well no more, she wasn’t going to be someone’s fucking doormat any more. She was glad to be rid of the club if this was what they were about. Even though she would miss them, she was worth so much more than that, damn it.

Turning again to the physical therapist’s office, she pulled in and shut off her car. It was the only thing she outright owned, her first real purchase as an adult, and she loved it, granted it was now five years old, but it still looked like new. With a sigh, she opened the door to her car and put one foot out and she felt a presence. Before she could pull herself back into the car, she was suddenly pulled from her seat and pushed against the side of her car. She opened her mouth to scream, but the man put a hand over her mouth.

“Listen, no talking,” the man said with a heavy accent. He was Hispanic, dressed in jeans and a hoodie from what she could see, and that’s what she was doing, memorizing everything she could about this man. “Tell the Ops that it was only a warning, they are coming and they aren’t going to stop until they get what they want. You get me?”

The man growled and Boo nodded her head quickly, not wanting to piss him off anymore. Her arm was in a sling still and she couldn’t do a damn thing. She knew self-defense and wanted to kick the guy in the balls, but if she missed, he would be able to seriously hurt her. She wasn’t dumb, he wanted a message delivered and she was apparently the only one from the compound who was out in the public. Damn it, she knew when they had a lockdown it was serious. Boo should have just gone on vacation like she had wanted to. But nooooo, her stupid doctor told her she needed physical therapy, not the beach therapy that she had suggested. She was almost a nurse for goodness sake, she was pretty sure she knew how to take care of herself while injured.

“Good,” the man whispered and then leaned forward. “If they don’t back off, I will come back, and next time, I will make sure I have a lot more time to play with you, yeah?” the man said and Boo just stared at him, she wasn’t going to show any weakness, fuck him if he thought she was gonna be easy prey. “Ah, you have spirit, I like that in a woman.”

He pushed into her and she gagged a little,
OMG what the hell was that smell? It was coming from him, shit, he needed to brush his teeth or something
.
Suggesting he chew a piece of mint gum could be construed as rude in this situation
, she thought, damn it who cared, she needed to fucking say something so he would get out of her air space.

“Um, I have some mints around here somewhere, would you like one?” she asked sweetly.

“What?” the man snapped and leaned back, thank God.

“Mints,” Boo repeated and then swung her purse up with her good arm and reached inside and dug around until she found them and pulled them out. “Here, would you like one?”

“What the fuck? Bitch, why are you asking me about mints when I gave you a message to give to the Warriors?” the man snapped and leaned in again, shit, his breath was like really bad.

The man narrowed his eyes and she held her breath, maybe she had taken it too far, but he couldn’t know how bad it was. “I am trying to help you out,” Boo said softly and held out the mints. “Your, um, breath, it is not the best and well, you know if you are working you should always put your best foot forward.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” he yelled and she finally snapped.

“No, I am not kidding you right now, damn it, I tried to be nice about the whole thing, but shit, if you are gonna accost a woman in the parking lot of her therapist, you need to make sure you didn’t eat a ton of garlic or onions or whatever your breath smells like. Take a damn mint please for the love of God!” Boo snapped and shook her mints at him.

“Give them the message,” he growled and then leaned forward a little. “Or I will be back,” and she shook the mints again and he rolled his eyes and took one. “Fine, now you got me?”

“Yep,” Boo nodded and then stood and watched as the man pulled the hoodie back over his head and walked down the street. Damn it, she didn’t want this, any of it. Boo pulled her phone out of her jacket and dialed the number she knew by heart and waited all the while tapping her foot, this made her decision so much easier.

“Hey, sugar,” Bic said cheerfully. “How are you doing? I have been trying to get a hold of you since you left the hotel. Everyone is real worried about you, especially since you did a Houdini.”

“Yeah,” Boo sighed, she really didn’t want to hear about the other women, not they cared about her, so she didn’t need to worry about them, if that made her bitchy, so what. “I needed to get my shit together, hey listen, I was going to therapy this morning and some guy stopped me and told me to give the Ops a message.”

“WHAT?” Bic shrieked and Boo cringed a little and grabbed her purse and walked toward the entrance, she seriously didn’t need to be late. She also really didn’t want to get into this over the phone. It was annoying, and she was not a whiner, even though right about now she actually felt like one. She was past this, she needed to move on, and that asshole had put her right back there as part of the club, she wasn’t, and she wasn’t going to deal with it either. She would keep the name they’d given her and nothing else.

“Bic,” Boo said calmly into the receiver, but even she could tell her tone was slightly impatient. Shit, she wasn’t rude normally. “Listen, I need to go to therapy but I wanted to make sure I called you and told you.”

“Free, shit, he has gone to a meeting,” Bic all but growled.

“Bic, focus,” Boo snapped and pulled open the door. “They said the crap before was only a warning. They are coming, and the guys need to keep their noses out of their business. Whatever all that means, just tell Free please. I need to get into therapy.”

Bic paused and then said into the phone, “Boo, what the fuck is up with the attitude?”

It sounded confrontational but it wasn’t, it was Bic and Boo knew it. She was straightforward and didn’t take shit from anyone. Boo had always respected that about Bic, her ability to cut through the bullshit, but she didn’t have time right now to do this, shit, she didn’t want to do this at all, but she had to. She had made her decision in the last two weeks, Boo just wanted to move on with her life. The Warriors and Lady Riders were awesome and she loved them. But they didn’t want her, so be it. She wasn’t going to beg for scraps from anyone. She had done that in the past and it sucked, no more.

“Bic, please, just give Free the message. I have an appointment I can’t miss,” Boo said.

“Then you will come right here afterward?” Bic snapped and Boo sighed.

“No, honey,” Boo said gently. “I have some things to do. Give the guys the message.”

“What is wrong?” Bic said and Boo put her hand to the bridge of her nose and pressed in. She really didn’t want to get into this, especially right now before therapy, she knew she was going to be in pain afterwards. She didn’t need to deal with this too, it was breaking her heart not to go to the compound, she missed all the girls, but she couldn’t go there. They didn’t want her there for that, they wanted her for her nursing and unfortunately, she was having a problem distinguishing between work and friendship.

“Nothing, Bic,” she said warily. “I just need to get into therapy and get things sorted for school. After, I have a bunch of stuff to do.”

“Honey,” Bic said softly and Boo should have known the woman was gonna call her on her bullshit. “You don’t know everything that has been going on. Trust me, you need to come in.”

“That is nice, Bic, but I—” Boo sighed.

“Boo,” Bic snapped and said, “We need to talk.”

“Not right now, okay,” Boo said quietly. “I need to get to my appointment. I will call you later.”

Bic made a noise and she said, “Promise you will call me?”

Boo sighed and crossed her fingers. “Yeah, Bic, I promise.”

Steve ‘Magnum’ Hardy and Kevin ‘Kink’ Hummel were riding down the highway, checking out a few things for Creed when they had decided to check on Boo. She had been gone and it put them both in a shitty mood, the woman just didn’t know how close they were to telling her she was theirs instead of courting her like Bic told them they had to do. Magnum growled as he thought about her absence from the club these last couple of weeks. She had gone home two weeks ago, and since then Kink and Magnum had taken turns checking to see if she was okay, and watching to make sure that she was actually following doctor’s orders. Of course she didn’t know they were watching her, it would have pissed her off. But then, about everything they did pissed her off. He was getting restless about the whole thing.

Magnum and Kink had similar upbringings, both had families who were close-knit and loved each other, sometimes a bit too nosy and overbearing, but mostly they were okay. Both sets of parents knew Magnum’s and Kink’s lifestyle and they never, not one time did they argue or look down on them or their club. Not that they weren’t shocked, they were, but then they saw what made them happy and they kept their feelings to themselves. However, in the last year or so, both sets of parents had been hinting around to wanting grandchildren.