Troubled Son: Savage Sons MC Romance
TROUBLED SON
SAVAGE SONS MC
by
JAYNA KING
Troubled Son. 1st Edition
Copyright © 2014 Jayna King
All Rights Reserved
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously.
All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.
Table of Contents
Author's Note
Troubled Son is the first book in the
Savage Sons
Series and does not contain a 'Happy Ever After' (HEA) ending........yet.
Prologue
Max
September 15, 2013
I
never thought I'd end up here. Smart, well-educated girls don't. Everything I've worked for is gone, and all of my degrees, training, tears...nothing makes a difference. I feel like the walls are going to close in on me, and the only consolation for living in this shitty apartment is that it's better than living back with my parents.
They'd begged me to come back home. Dad promised that he'd keep Mom off my back, that they just wanted to help and know that I'm safe. There's plenty of room in their Georgetown townhouse, and I have plenty of friends there. The old me would have loved to catch up with my friends from law school and find out where everyone had ended up...who'd gotten married, who looked like a shoo-in to make partner, who hadn't managed to pass the bar yet.
I couldn't do it though. I just couldn't face the questions, the unspoken criticism. I knew that I'd feel smothered by the attention and crowded with the traffic and congestion of the East Coast. It's hard for me to believe now that I'd actually enjoyed it just a short while ago. I'd loved the pride of knowing that I lived in our nation's capitol -- the center of power for government and for industries interested in shaping the direction of the government. I'd thought nothing could be more exhilarating.
I was wrong. About so much.
Even as I sit at my kitchen table, drinking the single cup of coffee that I allow myself these days, I wonder what I could have done differently, how I could have fixed things so that I wouldn't be sitting here all alone crossing off days on the calendar, with every day just like the one that came before. It's monotonous.
You'd think I'd welcome a little monotony after the last year of my life. That I'd relish a break from chaos, turmoil, and heartache. I know that I'm a fool for saying it, but I'd go back in a second, trade peace for chaos in a second if it meant that I'd be with Moses. As hard as it all was, despite the anger, the worry, the fear, and the aftermath, I wouldn't trade my time with him for anything.
Things didn't work out like I wanted them to. They certainly didn't work out like I'd expected them to. From the very beginning, the plan was that I'd breeze onto the scene, do my job, and then I would walk out of Moses' life. I was supposed to be the one who left, not the other way around. I miss him every minute of every day, and even though I know that it'll get easier with time, that doesn't help me right now.
I drink my coffee, and I plan my day. I will take a shower. I will plan a meal, and I will go to the grocery store to shop for that meal. I will refuse to crawl back in bed and pull the covers over my head. I will go for a walk, knowing that the sunshine and the exercise are good for both my body and my spirits. I will go on. I will survive, and I will, in time, feel better. Maybe not today, but someday.
I will -- even though I wish I could forget -- remember how I got here. I'll end up replaying the scenes like they're one of the movies I use to try to distract myself from how small, how narrow my life has become. Sometimes I even think of who I'd cast in the movie version of my life. The problem is that there's no man I've ever seen who could play Moses. No actor could capture his surprising depth, his extraordinary talent, or how fundamentally broken he was. There was never any putting him back together. As hard as I tried, it could never have happened.
Another sip of coffee and I remember the day, months before, when it all started.
Chapter 1
Max
April 1, 2013
I
was a little nervous as I looked at myself in the mirror, though I'd never have admitted it to anyone else. A little smile tugged at the corners of my mouth as I realized what the date was and imagined the ridiculous scenario of walking in to what was probably the most important meeting of my life, only to be greeted with laughter and the calls of "April Fools!"
I inhaled through my nose, deep and slow, and I exhaled through my mouth even more slowly -- my practiced means of calming myself down. I looked at the full-length mirror in my new apartment's walk-in closet. I'd agonized about what to wear, but even my critical eye couldn't find anything wrong with the navy suit I'd finally settled on. The jacket fit perfectly, and the three-quarter sleeves should be just right for the sunny Denver day. The skirt was above knee-length, but not too short, and the navy heels were neither stodgy nor slutty -- the perfect height. My simple red top with tiny navy polka dots kept the ensemble from being too terribly boring.
In short, it was the perfect, professional FBI-girl outfit.
I still got a little thrill when I thought about myself as an FBI agent. I'd been with the Bureau for nearly two years, but I was still as proud and excited as I'd been on my first day. Even though I hadn't worked on anything exactly thrilling in the time I'd spent in St. Louis -- my first office -- I knew a little about some of the big cases that other agents were working while I did background checks and put in my time before I could work my way up to handling bigger investigative challenges. When bank robbers were apprehended or when kidnapped children were returned to their parents, I was proud to be a part of the organization who made it happen.
I'd gotten my hair cut and colored just before I left DC to buy myself some time before I'd have to find another stylist. My mom and I had both been going to the same guy for years, and while I knew that Denver certainly had a mountain of talented stylists, I wasn't looking forward to finding a new one.
Subtle warm gold highlights brightened my naturally brown hair, and the low humidity in Colorado meant that when I blew my hair out straight that it actually stayed that way all day. No more frizzy hair by lunchtime! I'd pulled my hair back in a low, loose ponytail so that it would look pretty and completely unfussy. Simple makeup and silver hoop earrings completed my look.
I was ready to go. Ready for my first inter-agency meeting.
I walked through my apartment, deciding that I had the time to grab another cup of coffee and take it out onto my balcony. Even though the temperature outside was probably only in the forties, the warm sunshine made it feel at least twenty degrees warmer. I'd been happy to get the apartment for a lot of reasons. It was less than a ten minute drive to the office, and if I leaned forward past the railing on the balcony, I could see the trails and a glimpse of the pond for which Northfield Pond Park was named.
My apartment was on the upper floor of a new mixed use development, so I could park for the evening and walk to my grocery store, nearly a dozen restaurants, and more shops than I'd ever visit. It was the perfect location for a young single woman.
It was hard to think of myself as single. I'd been in a relationship nearly the whole time I'd been in St. Louis. Even though I'd known pretty early on that Jason wasn't the man I wanted to marry and spend the rest of my life with, he was smart, successful, easy on the eyes, and pretty good in bed. Who was I kidding? He'd been boring. He'd talked such a good game -- wanted to plan extravagant trips with the money he made working for Anheuser Busch -- but at the end of the day, beer was boring, and all he ever wanted to talk about was beer, market share, beer, quarterly goals, beer...you get the idea.
In the nearly two years that Jason and I had been together, we'd only been on one trip together, and let me tell you -- the Bahamas in February ain't paradise. Not only had it been too cold to swim in the perfectly clear water, but I'd found myself stuck spending time with the wives -- women whose goals in life were limited to trying to fit in a pedicure before picking up the kids from preschool or trying to out-do the other mothers for the most creative Halloween costume. Don't get me wrong. I liked kids. I just didn't have any, wasn't sure I ever would, and I couldn't imagine defining my role in life as a beer salesman's wife. I actually had a job that I loved, not that anyone seemed to care.
Anyway, there I was in Denver. When I'd gotten my transfer from St. Louis, it had been much easier than I'd expected to part company with Jason. He couldn't leave his job, and I didn't really want him to. We'd ended things amicably, and I was a little surprised to discover that I didn't miss him at all. My drive to Colorado had given me the chance to clear my head and realize that I didn't want to waste my time with a man I knew wasn't right for me ever again.
I checked the time on my cellphone and decided to get on the road a little early. I didn't want to keep the DEA waiting.
***
I pulled out of the parking garage and smiled as I saw the Rocky Mountains in the distance. Fresh snow had fallen, and everything above the treeline was blinding white in the morning sun that reflected off the east face of the front range. I didn't think I'd ever get tired of seeing the mountains.
My drive wasn't long enough for me to get more nervous, and I was grateful for that. The whole situation was unusual, and that had me a little worried and excited all at the same time. I'd expected that my second office would be in New York or L.A. Agents typically start off in a small-to-medium sized field office and move up to one of the top twelve offices for their second, much longer assignment. The Dirty Dozen, as agents call the top twelve cities for crime, absorb hundreds of agents for many years.