The memory of the last time we got drunk together sends a deep ache spiraling though my chest. We ditched a friend's pre-graduation party early and went back to his parents' guest house where we made love and held each other until the sun came up, whispering plans for our future between lingering kisses.
Even if neither of us were to mention the past, there's no chance we won't revisit it with everything we say or do. The best years of my life were spent with a younger version of this gorgeous man. Every damn day since he left, something reminds me of what we had. What he threw away.
"What are you afraid of?" he asks with a teasing grin. "Breaking curfew?"
It's another nod to happier days, and the way his eyes sparkle with mischief, he knows it. He was always quick to throw me a challenge, push me beyond my comfort zone because I didn't fit in with the other kids. Yet he was the timid one who had to be coaxed into walking on the wild side, like the time we set off fireworks outside Sadie Emory's house, and the night all his friends decided to skinny dip in his parents' pool.
I'm terrified this is how it will begin, that every memory will unravel a feeling of what it was like to be his girl until I'm a raw bundle of exposed nerves and begging him to take me back.
Glancing down at my phone, I let out an indecisive sigh. I'd picked the popular coffee shop knowing it was safe. It's always packed with customers on the weekends. High Top's is lucky to have a dozen patrons on their busiest nights, and the dark bar is filled with quiet corners that allow far too much privacy. Caffeine is relatively harmless. Alcohol leads to confessions of oppressed feelings.
But Kellen won't be back from his business trip until Monday night, and there's virtually no chance any of our friends-old or new-would be hanging out at High Top's or anywhere in this part of the city. Plus I could really use a drink to take the edge off. At least maybe my hands would stop trembling.
"Fine, let's go," I decide, throwing him a playful eye-roll. "I'm parked out back."
Swiping my purse from the back of the stool, I wait for him to throw his bag over his shoulder before following him to the exit. I stop to toss my cup in the trash on the way out and find him waiting, door held open. After I've stepped onto the sidewalk, he presses his fingertips against the small of my back and holds his other arm out to shield me from a wild group of young kids passing on skateboards.
My cheeks heat with a sensual rush. The military made a real gentleman out of the gangly teenager who was relatively shy about introducing himself the first time we met. How many women has he wooed into his bed over the last seven years? My stomach twists with the thought. It wouldn't take much beyond his impressive muscles, a flash of his bright white teeth, and that sensual rumble of his voice. God, I bet they're always lined up outside his door. With a body like that, how could they not be?
I'm thankful for the cool breeze that whips my hair over my face, hiding my flushed cheeks and cooling my libido.
"Are you still living around here?" he asks as we're making our way around the corner of the building.
Thankfully he hadn't asked a lot of questions when we exchanged emails, because he undoubtedly would've changed his mind about this meeting if he knew the whole story. Still, I'm well aware there's a good chance I'll be forced to tell him more than I'd like eventually, especially now that drinks will be involved.
"I moved up to Mission Bay last year," I say, silently thanking myself for not slipping and saying "we."
"You should've told me. I could've flown into The City so you didn't have to drive down here." His words come out clipped with irritation.
I brace myself, wondering if this is the moment he'll finally let loose of his repressed issues. At least then I'd have some answers. "I figured you'd be coming down here to stay with your family." I glance back at him as his thick eyebrows lower.
"I don't have anything to do with my family these days."
Dropping my gaze to the well-maintained pavers, my breath catches in my throat. I knew he wasn't in touch with his brother, but didn't realize he wasn't talking to his parents either. A wave of disappointment stirs in my chest, building until the pressure is too much to take.
"God, Linc, I'm so sorry. Everything you've gone through with them is my fault."
Lincoln's massive hand covers my wrist, pulling me to a stop. "Don't go there. It's not your fault. I made the decisions that led me down this path, and my relationship with my old man was shit before you came along. Besides, if I hadn't joined the military, I wouldn't have become the man standing in front of you."
I look up to meet his determined expression, melting a little. Or maybe I'm dying a little. Although I never asked him to save me, I could've stopped him and it would've changed everything. I've asked myself a thousand times why I didn't step in and own up to what I had done. Then I'll remember how his warm gaze pinned me down that night, silently imploring me to stay quiet. It's the same dire way he looked at me the first time we kissed, when it felt like he was asking to be my world.
His fingertips move up my wrist, lightly stroking my forearm until I swear it's encased in flames. Memories of more intimate moments come rushing back with his touch. The building lump in my throat thickens as I'm overcome by a rush of desire.
Despite the handful of years that have passed, I still want him.
"I'm here because I fucked up, Quinn. I shouldn't have shut you out the way I did. I should've reached out to you sooner." His thick, kissable lips bend slightly with a slow yet brilliant smile, blinding me with teeth so white they could be in a toothpaste ad. "I've missed the hell outta you."
The words from his email race through my mind.
I have to see you again.
Maybe there's a chance he still loves me as much as I still love him.
START READING THE SECRETS BETWEEN US!
Inferno Glory MC
PRAISE FOR INFERNO GLORY MC
"Sweet lord it is fast paced! Sort of SOA on a tilt-a-whirl! lol Freaking love that it is about a tough biker chicky and in her POV." ~Perusing Princess
"Woo Hoo! I found a new author that gives good badass biker, I'm in. She teased and tantalized me with more than one "hunk of hotness" and intrigued me with the mystery of what landed Harley in prison." ~iScream Books
"There is nothing off the table when it comes to the Inferno Glory MC and [Jennifer Ann] dishes them up lock stock and two smoking barrels!" ~Books Laid Bare
Forgiveness in the MC doesn't come easy …
They say you can never go home again, but I was out to prove them wrong. After a three year absence from the only home I have ever known, the Inferno Glory MC was not welcoming me back with open arms.
Until Colt Sawyer sweeps me off my bike, makes me feel like a woman again, and shows me pleasures I have never dreamed of.
Colt thinks he can save me, but I am not the MC darling everyone remembers me as, and no amount of scorching hot sex or whispering sweet nothings in my ear will change my hardened exterior.
Or at least that is what I thought.
He's offering me passion, forgiveness and protection. And once secrets start being revealed, the protection he provides me may be the only reason I survive the Inferno Glory MC.
Warning: This story involves steamy sex with multiple partners and tattooed alpha bikers. If you're looking for a hot and dirty ride, this is your book.
ONE
The electric vibration between my legs and against my hands is beyond amazing as I gaze upon the bright colors of spring whizzing past and inhale the delightful smells of freedom as the warm wind whips through my loose hair. I've waited three very long years for this moment.
Three fucking years.
A person would be amazed at what can transpire in a matter of a thousand days, give or take a few. In that precious amount of time that was stolen from me, the bitch who set me up got married and gave birth to a baby boy. The country elected a new president. My little brother graduated from high school and became a man. My favorite band released two new albums. My asshole boyfriend left me for some skank he met at the gym.
And my father died.
Meanwhile I was behind bars, fighting for my life. Between dueling gangs and crazy bitches who threatened to rape anyone with any object they could get their hands on, it's a miracle I was able to escape unscathed with my dignity still intact.
It's odd to see my now sculpted arms from hundreds of hours of push-ups jetting out to the handlebars of my baby, though the change makes me proud. Some of the the women I met were broken down by the system and turned to drugs, becoming shells of their former selves. I refused to lose control of my own destiny and made the best of the time I was given by keeping both my body and mind fit.
The sleeve my friend Jimmy started working on just weeks before I was locked away catches in the remaining sunlight, reminding me I need to make it my priority to get it finished. Now, even more than before, the whimsical La Catrina skull celebrating the dead means so much more with both my parents and nearly everyone else I've ever loved in the grave. Money's not a problem when you're the sole beneficiary of your wealthy grandparents' estate, so at least I don't have to worry about how to pay Jimmy or affording a place to stay.