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“Damn, okay, um—can you have her call me?”
The woman was barely audible given the noisy clubhouse and what sounded like traffic on the other end. Rubble snapped his fingers to silence the others. “Sure. What’s your info?”
“Jupiter. She’ll have my number.”
“Jupiter? Like the planet?”
“Last I checked.”
“All right, I’ll let her know.” He hung up before Jupiter could say anything else.
“Everything all right, Sarge? You got a weird look on your face.” Hawk pointed a cinnamon twist toward him.
Rubble sent a text message to Queenie, then shrugged. “Just a message for Queenie, that’s all.”
His brothers seemed to accept that, so he started toward the front door, ruminating on the recent phone conversation in his mind. Jupiter hadn’t sounded familiar and there was a hint of fear in her voice. It was never a good combination in his experience.
Just as he stepped outside, Queenie responded that she’d take care of it. Over the years, Rubble had slowly learned to trust women again, all thanks to the woman he saw as his adoptive mother, Queenie. Only a select few women earned the right to be in his circle of trust.
The weather in Snowshoe, Colorado was mild at this point in the week. Horns blared and brakes screeched in the not so far distance. Snowshoe was abuzz, preparing for the next set of events that’d make club life more colorful. With the Xtreme Winter Games beginning the next week, the town would be overrun with new business, strangers, and trouble.
He pulled his hood up, shielding his tattooed head from the falling snow. More than snow was brewing in the town. This was a constant for Snowshoe and for Macha, which was why he kept up with his mixed martial arts. After defeating two MCs last year, he hoped the winter months would bring peace.
A distant police siren caught his attention, reminding Rubble that tranquility wasn’t his lot in life. From foster care to the MMA ring to the Marines to Macha, he didn’t need peace to be happy. He just needed his MC. His family.
CHAPTER2
JUPITER
Eight hours to go.Jupiter Jones blotted the greasy gas station pizza with a napkin. There were only three pepperonis on the large piece, but it was no matter. Her stomach could barely handle anything, let alone the “spicy pepperoni” advertised on the sign in the window. It was the only place she could find off the beaten path. She knew no one would recognize her as the wife of one of the largest cattle ranch owners in Texas.
She shivered, but not from the rain pelting the windshield. Her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Lyle Jones, was the reason she drained the one bank account he never knew existed, purchased a beat-up Honda Civic, and split eleven months ago. Staying at the small ranch house outside Carlsbad wasn’t an option anymore.Gotta keep moving before Lyle’s goons find me again.
A semitruck rumbled into the parking lot, the bright beams lighting up the car interior long enough for Jupiter to catch the reflection in the rearview mirror. She clenched her teeth and hand simultaneously, the cold pizza now smashed. The bruises around her eyes had faded some, but the swelling of her jaw couldn’t be hidden, no matter how many pounds of makeup she applied.
Her olive-green eyes dipped to the neckline of the hooded sweatshirt she purchased outside Waco last month. Perfect fingermarks encircled her neck. Those weren’t from Lyle, though. Those were what happened when she escaped one of the men hired to capture her. The marks Lyle left were worse, much worse. Jupiter blinked away the horrors from months on the run and shifted the car, ready to put miles under her belt.
She should’ve left when Lyle first started hitting her.
“Stop it, Jupiter. You left when you could. That’s what’s important.” She turned on the radio. A country ballad streamed into the small car that was filled with the bare necessities. There’d been no time for her to pack all her possessions. She’d left when Lyle had been on a business trip. Bouncing from state to state was difficult, but she’d made do. She didn’t need much to survive. Now it was time to go somewhere unexpected. She’d exhausted the Southern states and was headed north.Next up, Colorado.
Switching lanes, Jupiter gripped the steering wheel tighter. Ironically, it was her mother-in-law who told her to leave.Fleewas her exact word. Evidently, the Jones men tended to be less than loving toward their trophy wives.Would’ve been nice to know when I met him.But Lyle held even more over her head than the threat of violence. She never wanted to be involved in his shady international dealings, but he hadn’t given her much of a choice. He’d forged her signature, making her as liable as he was.
Her phone lit up and she sighed at Queenie’s name on the caller ID. Picking it up, she felt herself relax just a little. “Hey, I wasn’t sure if you’d call.”
“Of course I would, sweetheart. I haven’t heard from you in, well damn, over five years. How are you? How’s your mother?”
Tears pricked Jupiter’s eyes. Queenie was like a second mother. One she hadn’t seen in too many years. “Mom died last year.”
Jupiter’s father had also died unexpectedly of a heart attack. She let out a breath, heart clenching at the knowledge that she was parentless. She hadn’t gone to her mother’s funeral. Lyle wouldn’t allow it. As badly as she wanted to drive to Iowa and visit her mother’s grave, it’d be the first place he’d look for her.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, I’m fine.” She sniffled and cursed herself for losing control. “I actually wanted to see if I could stay with you for a while.”
“Oh?”
“I’m, uh, in a bit of trouble.”
