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Prologue
Late in the evening, a soft breeze danced through the open French doors. The air coming off the Pacific Ocean was heavy with humidity for fall. Preacher lay awake, staring at the ceiling of his bedroom. His mind was a mix of chaotic thoughts. Not the best thing for a man like him. In the past, he would ring up Bones and force him into taking a ride until the wind and the road eased his mind.
A year ago, Preacher would have laid money down on not being above ground now. He’d stood on the beach, looking out at the expanse of ocean that lay before him, and all but dared his younger brother, Bones, to end their sorry lives.
Instead, Bones had left California on a job, and in the midst of chaos, he found his redemption in the form of a sweet treat queen. They had found each other on a different sandy beach, looking out over a different expanse of open water.
Many times, Preacher had resigned himself to dying. The fucking Grim Reaper just laughed each time and turned his back. One day, the two would have a very different conversation. He deserved whatever hell awaited him. At least that’s what he thought after letting Bones take their sorry excuse for a father’s life.
The man was a mean son of a bitch who loved to inflict pain. Preacher had been the one to intervene when their father turned his attention toward their mother. He could remember how bad his father beat her, the sounds of her sobs as she lay on the cracked linoleum-covered floor of their home. He remembered every busted lip, black eye, and broken bone his father gave her.Gave them.
They had been barely teenagers when their mother died at the hands of their father. His father had been operating the car when it crashed, and the cops said she died due to injuries sustained in the accident. But that wasn’t what had killed her. It was the beating he’d given her moments before. Bones and Preacher, already beaten and broken, had watched as their father carried her lifeless body from the house.
A few weeks later they had found the asshole sitting in the wooded area behind their home, drunk. Preacher didn’t so much as break a limb as he walked up with Bones. He’d stood idly by as his brother raised their father’s old revolver and pulled the trigger. He and Bones never spoke about what happened to their father afterward, but it ate at both of them. That one brief moment had kept them from living full lives.
Shortly after, Bones had signed up for the service. Without anything else to do, Preacher went with him. After everything they had been through as children, they hoped the military would show them something different. It hadn’t—it just continued to show them how terrible the world could be. No wonder they could stomach the hard jobs like some of the other brothers did. Bones always told him it was just pulling the trigger. He and Bones were often at odds with one another as much as they were aligned.
He still had nightmares of his father beating him right along with the one about his father’s death. He’d wake up with phantom pain from the beating he’d received the night before. Could smell the odor of sulfur as the bullet flew from the gun barrel. He could still feel his father’s flesh and blood splattered across his skin and stuck in his hair. But the one thing he could never shake was the sound of that damn gun being cocked a second time and the sight of Bones pulling it up to the side of his own head, wanting to end his life. His hand was steady as he pressed the smoking barrel to his temple.
Preacher had stopped him, making Bones promise when he left this earth, Preacher would be with him. It was an awful thing to do to his brother, but Preacher came from a selfish son of a bitch, just like Bones. He held onto the gun, using it to blackmail his own brother into doing whatever he wanted. That was until Bones went to Texas on a job.
Bones had called, saying he was in too deep and needed help. Thinking back on how he misunderstood the message, Preacher smiled as he stared at the ceiling. Bones had meant he’d fallen in love and had no idea what to do about his heart. Preacher thought he was spiraling out of control and needed support.
A group of the club brothers had blasted down to Texas not knowing what they’d find. What they found was Bones tangled up with his sweet treat queen. But Bones had left Conlyn to live her life. To Bones, it had been simple, he didn’t want to drag her into their world. It had been Preacher who retrieved Conlyn and brought her to Lampsing. It had been the right thing to do. A first step in making up for all the years he’d tethered Bones to him.
They had lost friends, brothers during their time in the military. Some of those times haunted many of the club brothers. For others, they never thought about it. All Preacher knew was that he didn’t want to lose Bones or anyone else.
He rolled over, thinking about how they had almost lost Wrench. The weight of that night still haunted him. Preacher had left his brother to his own devices the evening before, watching as he strolled poetically toward the crashing waves as a storm lit up the distant sky. A whiskey bottle in his hand was all Wrench had needed that night. Waking up to find his brother lying on the beach, unconscious and naked in the morning surf. He’d gotten his brother up to the house with the help of Frisco. Sweat beaded on his skin as Preacher thought about how close they came to losing Wrench. It was only one of many things that weighed on his broad shoulders.
Tonight, none of those memories kept him up.
Tonight, it was Jack keeping him up. Once again, she was in Reno, Nevada, with her best friend and ex-lover, Viper. Every time things got tough, she ran straight to her friend. He had whiplash from how fast she could bolt when things heated up. Maybe he should pack her things and ship them to Reno. Pull the trigger on the whole relationship. He often wondered if he had done the right thing bringing her to Lampsing. He helped get her and Viper out of Louisiana. It had put him in a tight spot with Gypsy and Tailor, and he’d been slammed with a hefty fine because of it.
Problem was he couldn’t seem to let her go. Desperate to have what some of the others had, he was hanging on. Soon or later it would end.
Tossing the covers off his overheated body, Preacher sat up on the edge of the bed. The French doors lay open allowing a less than humid breeze to filter through his apartment. Why did he own a place on the shore? For the sounds of the waves he reminded himself. There were no waves tonight to soothe him, no cool wind to relieve his overheated skin. Just dead silence and stale humidity.
Screw it, he’d go for a ride.
ChapterOne
It had been a shit day from Preacher’s point of view. He’d gone in to try and train new recruits on demolition for Cruise’s company. That had gone off like a ton of bricks. He’d never seen a bunch ofmame inutile(useless mothers) like he trained today. He was covered in dirt and sand, and he could feel bits of gravel in his boots and long hair.
Pulling into the drive, he noticed right away Jack was not home. Her car wasn’t in the drive as usual. Backing his bike in, he tried not getting irritated before knowing the deal. She could be hanging out with some of the other ladies. Not likely, but it could happen. She could just be at the grocery doing shopping. Not possible since she couldn’t boil water. Most likely she was sitting at the Firehouse having a cocktail. What he hoped, was that she was accomplishing something. Maybe finding another job. How many had she had in the past year and a half? A dozen, at least.
Fuck it, he’d get a shower and order a pizza. If she came home in time to eat great. If she didn’t, he’d leave her a note and head to the clubhouse. Walking into the house, he found a note.He should have known.
Preacher,
Took a ride over to Reno to watch Viper’s fight. See you when I get back.
Jack
Pulling out his phone, he hit her number and listened to the phone ring. “Hello,” came her voice across the line.
“Jack, it’s Preacher.”
“I know.” He heard her laugh.
