RIDING DARKNESS (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novella)

BOOK: RIDING DARKNESS (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novella)
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Welcome to world
of
BACK DOWN DEVIL MOTORCYCLE CLUB

~

 

A romance novella
by London Casey

 

London Casey is
the pen name for bestselling romance author Karolyn James

 

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James
 
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RIDING DARKNESS

A Back Down Devil
MC Novella

 

Ares Rhyne has
worn a leather cut with a patch before, but the pain that came from having it
taken away almost killed him, so he has no desire to accept the patch that Back
Down Devil MC keeps offering. Living as a prospect allows him time to heal his
wounds and the quiet chance of survival.
On a mission to break up an underground gambling ring, Ares gets caught in a
bloody and deadly shootout. When he escapes, he doesn't expect to have a
passenger on the back of his ride...
Desperate to finally escape the hell she has been living in, Brooke Danyers was
supposed to put the gun to the sexy, tough biker's stomach and pull the
trigger. Instead, she froze... and then left with him.
There's revenge to be had, but when Ares discovers who is behind it all

and that his fate with Back
Down Devil is on the line

will his steamy romance with beautiful Brooke finally destroy his ties to the
club forever?

one.

 

Taken him out, man. Hurry. Fuck,
Ares, hurry, bro. They

re
coming. They got the first door down. What are you waiting for? You said you
had this. You said you wanted this. You said you wanted

oh, fuck

they

re here, man. Ares, we

re going to die.

Ares opened his eyes and stared up
at the ceiling of his rundown apartment. There were brown spots scattered like
stupid polka dots thanks to water stains and who knew what else. The smell of
burnt food and hot water filtered throughout the place from his neighbor up too
damn early cooking her damn soup.

On his chest, Ares held his gun
tight. He looked down at it and let out his first waking breath of the day.
That was how he judged his life these days, taking that first breath in the
morning and then taking that last breath at night. While sleeping, he didn

t give a fuck what happened.
Breathing or not. Hell, if it were possible to choose, wouldn

t everyone choose to die in
their sleep? That would be peace. That would be the end. That would be true
closure in life.

But it didn

t happen like that all the time. And Ares knew it
wouldn

t happen to him. Not
in his life. Not with the decisions he

d
made.

He ran a hand down his leather cut.
He touched the spots where there used to be patches. Patches of his success as
part of another crew. He used to sit at a table. He used to smoke and drink,
listening to the President talk about what the club needed to do. He used to
vote on everything that came across that table. When he spoke, people gave a
shit.

That all came to an end with death
at his fingertips and death within his soul.

Ares sat up and looked to his
right. A woman lay in his bed, naked. The covers were pulled down to her legs.
She was on her stomach, head facing the other way. The curve of her ass was
nice. There was a faded looking tattoo on her ass, something like that maybe
once resembled a set of lips. If so, time hadn

t
allowed that tattoo to keep its nice look.

Shaking his head, Ares smiled and
swung his feet out of the bed. He was fully dressed, as he always remained while
he slept. Never knew when the time would come to fight or run. His black
leather cut gave notice to everyone that he really didn

t have a club. He wasn

t quite one of the
Lost Men
,
but he
wasn

t fully patched into
Back Down Devil MC either. Sometimes it mattered to Ares, sometimes it didn

t. Being part of a club meant
having rules and responsibility. It meant appreciating life in a way that most
people couldn

t grasp. All
of that Ares had and all of that he lost.

Ares turned and kicked the bed.

The woman

s head popped up. She turned her head, hair
covering her face.

What
the fuck?


Wake
the fuck up. Take a shower. Make coffee or something. Then get the fuck out.


Where
are you going?


You

re not my wife, babe,

Ares said.

You

re nothing. Just like me. We

re all nothing. So be nothing. Be gone.

Ares walked out of the bedroom and
through the apartment. It was a crash pad and nothing more. He could have had a
nicer place, but what would that prove? Miller had always taken good care of
Ares, calling him the best prospect he

d
ever seen. Ares never thought he

d
be a bitch prospect again, but the cards life dealt were as such. But it kept
things quiet on the outside. Inside, Ares fought a war nobody could quite
understand. If anyone from his old club tried to come and fuck with him, they

d see him as a prospect and back
off. Not that something of that nature truly worried Ares; he paid his debt to
his old club and was sent off with nothing except a black leather cut and a scar
on his chest.

When Ares opened the door to his
apartment, the smell of the rotten soup made his eyes water. For a split
second, it made him think of the night before, with that woman from his
bedroom. He licked his lips and cringed. He wondered what he had licked and
what he had tasted.


Should
have brushed my teeth,

he
whispered.

The neighbor

s door opened and a short, old woman stood there.
She smiled a toothless smile and held a metal pot by its handle. The liquid
inside the pot -
considered to be soup -
danced close to the edge of the
pot.


Ares,
there you are,

Mrs.
Harrinberg said.

I made
you some soup.

Ares leaned over and looked into
the pot. It was cloudy water with something that maybe was a mushroom floating
on top. If faced with a choice of eating the soup and eating the chick in his
bed, Ares would take his chances with the woman again.


Thanks,

Ares said.

That looks

like something
…”


Have
some. Look at you. You look so hungry.


I
have to get going,

Ares
said.

Will you save some
for me?

Mrs. Harrinberg nodded and smiled.

Ares knew she would never save the
damn soup. In fact, by the time Ares made it to the door to the landing, Mrs.
Harrinberg was already knocking on another door. She would do this for a good
hour until the soup was too cold. Then she

d
go back and reheat the nasty stuff and try again.

It was a wonder someone in the
building hadn

t killed her
yet.

Ares took the steps two at a time,
his hands balled into fists. He was in the mood to kill. The mood came in waves
and lately there had been some serious talk within the MC about problems with
other clubs. Eight Under MC were gearing up quite a bit, seeking revenge. They
were moving in silence, waiting for the right time to strike.

Ares welcomed it all.

The good, the bad, the bloody.
Whatever the hell it was, he wanted it. He wanted the missions from Miller. He
wanted the bitch work to keep his mind focused on something else. Because when
Ares closed his eyes, all he saw was

Ares, we

re going to die.

Ares opened the door to his
apartment building and was faced with two men. One had a gun pointed at him.
The other one stood with a fist cocked back. Before Ares could make a sound or
a move, something hit him in the face. He wasn

t
sure if it was the gun or the fist. Either way, it knocked him out cold.

two.

 

Brooke stood on the balcony that
overlooked most of Frelen and enjoyed the last few drags of her cigarette. She
stared east, looking at the city and then what had the appeal of a desolate
desert. If it were the other side of the building, she would have been able to
see the ocean. That was the good view. That was the expensive view.

Armen would never spend that kind
of money, not for a view. Hell, Brooke was surprised he even paid for this room
as it was. The last time they had been moving around and trying to
set shit
the fuck up
Brooke slept in an abandoned building using newspapers as some
kind of blanket. That meant this hotel was a goddamn luxury right now. And the
cigarette tasted great. All Brooke needed was a cup of coffee.

The door behind her slid open and
Armen stood holding a steaming cup of coffee.


You
have to taste this,

Armen
said.

This is good shit.


Perfect,

Brooke said. She took the mug
and smelled it. She loved the smell of fresh, hot coffee. She sipped the coffee
and then took a deep drag on the cigarette. With her eyes shut


Perfect
…”

A calming sense came over Brooke,
but it lasted all of a few seconds before Armen spoke and ruined it.


We

re close,

Armen said.

We
have to get through tonight and then we

ll
run again. Okay?

Brooke nodded. The coffee mug in
her hand shook.

Why? I
mean, I get why, but I just
…”


Brooke,
we have to do this. Someone in one of these dirty motorcycle clubs is the
enemy. Remember that. These guys like money, booze, and pussy. I

ve got four other girls lined up
for this one. I offered to give them a cut.


But
you won

t.


Fuck
no. They

re fucking whores.
They don

t need a thing.


And
I

m doing this too?


Yes,

Armen said. He walked to the
railing and stared out to the horizon.

Yes.
I need you there, Brooke. I need you to look like a whore. Just like the rest
of them. You

re smarter and
you

ll collect a lot of
cash on this. Then we shut it down and run like hell.


What
are you going to find here?

Brooke asked.

Armen turned his head.

I don

t like being questioned. If you don

t want the fucking truth, then
get the fuck out. I promised you that I would keep you alive and I did. The
ends and the means
…”


Okay,

Brooke whispered.

I

m
sorry.

Brooke didn

t like this at all. It never seemed enough for
Armen. It always seemed about getting more money and fast. So they could run.
So they could keep traveling. Armen told Brooke people were coming and that

s why they needed to move. They
needed a lot of cash to get ready to stockpile weapons. That would be the only
way to defend the honor of what was taken.


I
have something for you,

Armen said.

Come inside
with me.

Brooke looked out and wished she
could be there. Out there, anywhere. She turned and went into the hotel room.
Armen turned from the bed and had a gun in his hand.


I
want you to take this,

Armen said.

I want you to
get ready for tonight.


Christ,
what are we doing?

Brooke
asked.


You
don

t get how bad Frelen
is. There

s a lot of
bullshit happening. Okay? A lot of guys that want to kill each other. And trust
me, just because you have a set of tits and a pussy, it don

t protect you.

Brooke swallowed hard. She put her
hand around the gun and nodded.

Okay.
Thank you, Armen.

Armen closed in on Brooke. He
reached up and touched her face.

Brooke,
you may need to use that weapon. You can

t
be afraid to pull the trigger. Remember what was taken from you. From us. Okay?
You have to be strong. Revenge is easy in our minds, but so hard in reality.
When it finally does happen, we

ll
be set free. For the rest of our lives.

Armen came closer and closer. His
nose touched Brooke

s. His
lips fluttered and his eyes went wide. Brooke hated the temptation her body
gave Armen. She couldn

t
control it. She couldn

t
help how she looked or what Armen thought.


Stop,

Brooke whispered.

You

re my brother.


Alleged,

Armen whispered.

We both know I don

t look like our parents. I bet I

m adopted. I bet we

re not even blood related,
Brooke. You know what that means
…”


I
said stop,

Brooke said.
She backed up. She held the gun out.

Armen started to laugh.

Helps if there

s bullets in the gun.

Brooke froze and gasped.

I
…”


That

s good,

Armen said. He grabbed the gun from Brooke

s hand and threw it to the bed.
He then pulled Brooke close, his hand to the back of her neck.

That

s good. Don

t
be afraid. Okay, sister?


Okay,

Brooke said.


Tomorrow
at this time we

ll be on
the move again. One day closer to the truth. To preparing. To protecting each
other. I promise it.

Armen let Brooke go. He took the
gun and walked away.

Brooke dropped to her knees and
reached for the nightstand. That

s
where Armen had cigarettes. Brooke grabbed the pack and hurried back outside.

She stood there, smoking another
cigarette, her mind racing.

Something needed to change. The
truth needed to come forward.

More than anything else, Brooke
just wanted to know who killed her parents.

BOOK: RIDING DARKNESS (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novella)
8.66Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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